You read that correctly.
I never learned as a kid, and it never really bothered me, until I learned to swim in my 30s and decided that perhaps it was time I give bike riding a try as well.
In case you are wondering, it is far more difficult to learn to ride a bike as an adult than it is to learn how to swim. There are lessons for beginning swimmers. You can't fall off the pool. You can practice in the shallow end for ages until you are good and ready to head over to deeper waters.
With biking, there are no lessons. You have to find someone who is not only willing to teach you, but who also has a clue how to teach you.
The first person who tried teaching me would just run along side of me holding on to the bike and yelling "pedal pedal pedal!" over and over again, and then get exasperated when I was only able to go about three feet before wobbling over. This person also tried to teach me by having me ride around a parking lot in a circle.
Here's a tip: don't have beginning bike riders start by going in a circle.
Luckily, my sister offered to teach me, and she actually knew a few things about teaching someone this skill. For example, no circles. She helped me find an empty parking lot that was big enough for me to simply coast on a very slight decline. That way all I had to do was lift up my feet and glide forward, and then put my feet down when I needed to.
When I tried to add pedaling to the mix, I would get wobbly again. My sister quickly figured out the problem. When I tried to pedal, I looked down at the bike. This seemed to make sense to me at the time, though really, it's the worst thing you can do. The bike goes where your eyes go. If you want to go straight ahead, you have to look straight ahead.
Learning these two pieces of the bike riding puzzle were the key for me. After that day, I kept going to that parking lot to coast, and to practice pedaling while looking where I wanted to go. Over time, I learned other things, like how to use my gears. Now I can ride reasonably well, at least well enough to have fun doing it, though I still consider myself a novice. I have to stop the bike to drink water. I'm not comfortable riding and signaling at the same time. And I still can't just hop on a bike and ride away. It always takes me a few fits and starts to get going, just because of nerves.
That's where I found myself a few weeks ago, when I wanted to try bike riding in my new home state. I live in a place with a lot of mountain biking, which I don't do, and not a lot of paved biking trails. Luckily, a coworker knew of one great trail in a state park, so I headed there. It was an hour and a half drive, with me neurotically checking to make sure my bike hadn't fallen off the rack, and I was nervous, both about the new location but also because this was my first ride of the season. The first ride is always a bit nerve-wracking for me.
I found the start of the trail and got underway, after about half a dozen false starts. Then I quickly realized why I was having such a hard time. I picked the side of the trail that goes up the side of a mountain. The slope is not great, but it is steady. So, no. I was not up for a nonstop climb. I turned around and tried the downhill. That was great, until I realized there was only one way back up to the car.
So, I practiced. I went down for a while, then turned around and rode back to the start. Then I went back down a little further, repeat. This was fun and brought me to some great scenery.
I ended up only riding maybe 4 miles that day, but I had a blast discovering a new place to ride (and hike) later in the season. I am also proud of myself for overcoming what was, for me, a lot. A new place, a new type of terrain, the first ride of the season. Every time I push off on those pedals, I am overcoming a fear all over again.
