My Two Cents on Learning How to Cycle (Part 2)
Prelude:
Yes. I’m seventeen and I still don’t know how to cycle. A little embarrassing if you asked me. My school did a fitness challenge using Strava and there’s 3 categories - cardio, sports and strength. I figured I might as well use that opportunity to try and learn cycling. Here is my 2nd attempt after a month of break.
Main Story:
Oh. My. Gosh. I finally did it. I manage to learn how to ride a bicycle. Okay im still a noob, but like not a noob noob, more like an amateur. Still, a long way to go before becoming a pro.
Ok lets start from the beginning. I got a free 7 pass (yes again) from AnyWheels cause I participated in their CNY poll in their Instagram Stories. I finally had time to go to the park and practise today, since I had half day of school.
Just woken from my nap, I navigated to the nearest bicycle show on the map in the app. I tried to find a bicycle yesterday but to no avail.
Luckily for me, I found one almost immediately, near the roadside. Being a good citizen, I reported the bicycle using the app and proceeded to unlock and ride it. But I soon realised why it was abandoned on the side of the road, perhaps hastily. As I sat on the seat, the whole seat tilted backwards. In other words, the seat was spoilt. I reported the fault using the app again and parked it at a nearby bicycle parking lot.
I decided to head to the park to test my luck. Honestly, the only thing I am not fond of AnyWheels is because they have very little supply of bicycles near my neighbourhood. As such, whenever I want to ride, I have to spend at least 15 minutes walking and finding a suitable bicycle.
Although I recognise they are still a small company, as compared to other bicycle rental companies, the number of times I have been disappointed because of a spoilt or misplaced bike far outweighs the moments of joy I had riding their bicycle.
Back to the story. I walked to one end of the park, and lucky for me, their was a bicycle there as stated in the app. Plus, it was a newer model of their bicycle. Additional points for the ride today.
After adjusting the seat and looking for pedestrians, I slowly rode my way to the other end of the park (which I did successfully) with as minimal stops as possible.
There were some incidents along the way of course - the jogging uncle who kept mumbling “KNNCCB” and other profanities in Hokkein as I narrowly missed him while riding down the slope, the fear of running into other riders, the fear of running over someone else’s pet dog, the guy on the coolest Onewheel I’ve ever seen in SG, and my constant shrieking as I rode the bicycle shakily on the wide walkway.
Looking back, maybe I should not have practised in the park. But my void deck did not provide enough space to practise and it does not stimulate any real world situations when riding a bicycle. But on the other hand, practising in the park does pose danger to other park users. Although there weren’t many people in the park, I still felt a huge social responsibility to not cause any harm to anyone, especially with my ‘reckless’ riding.
Some key takeaways I learnt were that the brakes are my best friend when riding. They are SO helpful, whether riding downhill or turning at a junction. I also kept forgetting to use the bell in the first half of the session which caused mini anxiety attacks for me when riding past people. But one thing I have to take note is to know how to multitask. Cause keeping my eyes in front and hands on the brakes, I find it quite difficult to remember to use the bell, or to tilt the handlebars. There are so many features on a bicycle compared to a skateboard.
I found an almost empty bridge and decided to practise there for the rest of my session. It a small incline and decline which was perfect for my practice.
Honestly, the main reason why I want to learn how to ride a bicycle is cause skateboarding has limitations depending on the terrain and distance I want to travel. I still don’t know what took me so long to want to learn how to ride a bicycle though HAHAHA. Better late than never I guess.
Conclusion:
Alrights ending I will end it here with a checklist of my cycling journey - what i wish to accomplish before mid 2021. Hope it doesn’t take long!
cycle in straight line (checked yay)
cycle uphill (checked yay)
cycle downhill (checked yay)
cycle on uneven grounds (a little)
manage to turn at a junction (a little)
cycle in crowded area (nope)
cycle on bicycle path (nope)
