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FINALLY!
You all may recall posts from me about how stubborn DS can be when it comes to learning a new task, specifically riding a bike. Well, it has finally happened. Two Tuesdays ago, the BH bought him a new bike -- he was gargantuan on his old one. A week ago, I took him to our church, which has a big parking lot so he could practice. That didn't go so well -- a couple scrapes. In fact, he didn't want to go, but I said if he didn't, we would return the bike, and also we had to make sure it fit him right. (Amazingly, he bought that last argument -- I don't think returning the bike would have phased him one bit) Last Thursday, BH took him to a football field next to the High School near our house, and he did a lot better -- he could bike without falling. Since then he's practiced a couple more times, and can now start by himself, and stop without falling. He's even learned to start by himself going uphill. Every day he asks if he can bike. I'd told him we'd bike on the bike path that is at the end of our street this weekend, and he's looking forward to that. One more of life's lessons learned. Hooray! Scott DD 10 and DS 7 |
#2
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"Scott Lindstrom" wrote in message ... You all may recall posts from me about how stubborn DS can be when it comes to learning a new task, specifically riding a bike. Well, it has finally happened. [] That's great news, Scott. Way to go! Jayne |
#3
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In article ,
Jayne Kulikauskas wrote: "Scott Lindstrom" wrote in message ... You all may recall posts from me about how stubborn DS can be when it comes to learning a new task, specifically riding a bike. Well, it has finally happened. That's great news, Scott. Way to go! We've also had pretty good success teaching my reluctant 7-year-old son to ride a bike this summer also. He is now quite confident in riding around on a paved playground, and can keep a straight line, do shoulder checks, and turn smoothly. His starts are no longer wobbly and he can stop (though not quickly enough for road riding yet, I think). He'll never be able to stop really quickly with just coaster brakes, but I don't think he's quite ready for hand brakes yet. He's done a lot of riding around in circles and "lane practice", using some 3-foot wide lanes that are painted on the playground. We had only two falls all summer, with weekly practices: one was when he was just learning to turn and steer and was making much too large a movement with the handlebars, the later one was when he had enough confidence that he tried to cycle through a gateway into the playground at the start of the lesson and hit his handlebar on gatepost. He was a bit shook up, but after 5-10 minutes to calm down he went on with the bike lesson and had a reasonably good time. He enjoys the bike lessons when he is having them, but does not want to ride his bike at other times. We'll probably be getting him a bigger bike, probably with a rear derailleur or hub gears, sometime this year. I wouldn't want to climb the street in front of our house with a heavyweight one-speed, so it seems unfair to ask him to do so. -- Kevin Karplus http://www.soe.ucsc.edu/~karplus life member (LAB, Adventure Cycling, American Youth Hostels) Effective Cycling Instructor #218-ck (lapsed) Professor of Computer Engineering, University of California, Santa Cruz Undergraduate and Graduate Director, Bioinformatics Affiliations for identification only. |
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#5
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FINALLY!
Rosalie B. writes:
He'll never be able to stop really quickly with just coaster brakes, Why do you say that? I've never really ridden a bike with hand brakes very much and I could always stop quickly enough with coaster brakes. Coaster brakes can't stop a bicycle quickly because they are on the rear wheel only. When hand brakes are properly applied, most of the stopping power (about 75%) comes from the front wheel. That's because, when stopping, most of the rider's weight shifts onto the front wheel, so it has better traction. The main role of the rear brake is just to prevent the bicycle from somersaulting over the front wheel. David desJardins |
#6
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FINALLY!
The discussion here prompted me to make getting my DD 7 to learn to ride a bike this summer a goal. Your posts made me realize that she wasn't alone in being reluctant. I posted about our experiences, but never saw it appear. Some factors that made it a success we Bribery. It hadn't occured to be before until someone mentioned it. The reward for learning to ride was an American Girl doll that she had been asking for. PedalMagic. A videotape of a method for teaching riding without training wheels http://www.pedalmagic.com/. Someone else recommended it here, and I considered it a good $25 investment. A good approach when your child approaches things mentally rather than physically. She learned well enough that at the end of the summer we bicycled around Mackinac Island, Michigan (8 miles on a state highway that does not allow motor vehicles). Dena "Scott Lindstrom" wrote in message ... You all may recall posts from me about how stubborn DS can be when it comes to learning a new task, specifically riding a bike. Well, it has finally happened. |
#7
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FINALLY!
In article , David desJardins wrote:
Rosalie B. writes: He'll never be able to stop really quickly with just coaster brakes, Why do you say that? I've never really ridden a bike with hand brakes very much and I could always stop quickly enough with coaster brakes. Coaster brakes can't stop a bicycle quickly because they are on the rear wheel only. When hand brakes are properly applied, most of the stopping power (about 75%) comes from the front wheel. That's because, when stopping, most of the rider's weight shifts onto the front wheel, so it has better traction. Correct. In an emergency stop, your deceleration is limited by the pitchover vector---the line from your center of gravity through the front wheel contact with the ground. When you subtract the deceleration vector from the gravity vector, you have to end up with a vector pointing more down than the pitchover vector, or you'll flip the bike. Controlling front and rear brakes so as to be able to do an emergency stop takes practice---practice most bike riders nowadays never get. John Forester's book "Effective Cycling" describes the technique well, and it is taught by the League of American Bicyclists. It is not possible to flip the bike with rear-wheel brakes, since the deceleration drops to zero as the rear wheel is unweighted. This makes coaster brakes easier to operate, hence their dominance on first bikes for kids. Unfortunately, your deceleration is limited about a third of what you can get with both front and back brakes, so you have to ride slowly in order to keep your stopping distance safe. In flat country, young kids generally don't go so fast that coaster brakes are inadequate, but in hilly country like here it easy to end up going too fast down a hill and not be able to stop in a reasonable distance with just rear-wheel braking. The main role of the rear brake is just to prevent the bicycle from somersaulting over the front wheel. Nope---the rear brake provides additional braking power as long as some weight remains on the rear wheel. Under normal (not emergency) braking, about 1/3 of your braking comes from the rear wheel. If the extra braking all came from the front wheel, the steering would become difficult, as steering relies on the difference in friction between a rolling wheel and a side-slipping wheel. You can also use rear-wheel-only braking when you want to slow down gradually. -- Kevin Karplus http://www.soe.ucsc.edu/~karplus life member (LAB, Adventure Cycling, American Youth Hostels) Effective Cycling Instructor #218-ck (lapsed) Professor of Computer Engineering, University of California, Santa Cruz Undergraduate and Graduate Director, Bioinformatics Affiliations for identification only. |
#8
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FINALLY!
Scott Lindstrom wrote in message . ..
You all may recall posts from me about how stubborn DS can be when it comes to learning a new task, specifically riding a bike. Well, it has finally happened. Two Tuesdays ago, the BH bought him a new bike -- he was gargantuan on his old one. A week ago, I took him to our church, which has a big parking lot so he could practice. That didn't go so well -- a couple scrapes. In fact, he didn't want to go, but I said if he didn't, we would return the bike, and also we had to make sure it fit him right. (Amazingly, he bought that last argument -- I don't think returning the bike would have phased him one bit) Last Thursday, BH took him to a football field next to the High School near our house, and he did a lot better -- he could bike without falling. Since then he's practiced a couple more times, and can now start by himself, and stop without falling. He's even learned to start by himself going uphill. Every day he asks if he can bike. I'd told him we'd bike on the bike path that is at the end of our street this weekend, and he's looking forward to that. One more of life's lessons learned. Hooray! Scott DD 10 and DS 7 WTG! My 7 YO DS also learned how to ride a bike this past weekend! He learned in a parking lot of a defuncted store! Cool! oooh but no street riding just yet... Brandy |
#9
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FibbersCloset wrote:
appear. Some factors that made it a success we Bribery. It hadn't occured to be before until someone mentioned it. The reward for learning to ride was an American Girl doll that she had been asking for. Wow! That's quite a reward. DS only got a bionicle. DD would do just about anything for an AG doll -- although come to think of it, she probably wouldn't -- she'd just ask Grandma for it for Christmas. We biked on the nearby multiuse bike path last night -- about 3 miles total. He did a pretty good job, although I was cringeing a couple times when he was too close to the center line as people came the other way. He doesn't really bike in a perfectly straight unwobbly line The one time he actually crossed over the other side of the path, no one was coming, and he ended up falling for the first and only time of the night. But after crying for a while, he got up and biked the rest of the way home. Scott DD 10 and DS 7 |
#10
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FINALLY!
Scott Lindstrom wrote in message . ..
You all may recall posts from me about how stubborn DS can be when it comes to learning a new task, specifically riding a bike. Well, it has finally happened. Two Tuesdays ago, the BH bought him a new bike -- he was gargantuan on his old one. A week ago, I took him to our church, which has a big parking lot so he could practice. That didn't go so well -- a couple scrapes. In fact, he didn't want to go, but I said if he didn't, we would return the bike, and also we had to make sure it fit him right. (Amazingly, he bought that last argument -- I don't think returning the bike would have phased him one bit) Last Thursday, BH took him to a football field next to the High School near our house, and he did a lot better -- he could bike without falling. Since then he's practiced a couple more times, and can now start by himself, and stop without falling. He's even learned to start by himself going uphill. Every day he asks if he can bike. I'd told him we'd bike on the bike path that is at the end of our street this weekend, and he's looking forward to that. One more of life's lessons learned. Hooray! Scott DD 10 and DS 7 Good job, Scott! My little one Jessica (5) is still on training wheels, but Jillian (6) had enthusiastically learned to ride a 2-wheeler. "I'm growing up now, right, Daddy?" she would always say to me. Nick Chang |
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