by Troy Hull
This article originally appeared on Medium.com
Learning to ride a bicycle is a rite of passage that has been around as long as the bicycle. While many Charlotteans hop on their bicycles everyday, that first ride can be scary and, in some cases, very painful. It’s not just learning to ride that can be difficult, but teaching a newbie the art of cycling can be frustrating.
That’s what brought Desiree Taylor to Arbor Glen Outreach Center for the Learn to Ride event. Desiree grew up with older siblings who taught her how to ride, but her son, Emery, doesn’t have that advantage. That doesn’t mean mom hasn’t been trying to teach him. Emery has outgrown his first two bikes and is now on his third one and mom is desperate. So desperate that she was about to head to Columbia South Carolina to a bicycle lesson class until she found out about Saturday’s Learn to Ride event.
Learn to Ride is a not-for-profit group of volunteers who you are never too young or too old to ride a bike. In fact, co-founder Dick Winters says the range for successful students ranges from two to seventy. When the group started five years ago, organizers immediately realized there was a need for bike lessons based on the large number of future bikers who attended the first day. Early events were held on tracks at local schools, but eventually the group was able to partner with Mecklenburg County Park and Rec, which allowed Learn to Ride to help develop bike training park areas such as the one at Arbor Glen.
The lessons give new bike riders a chance to learn the rules of riding on the road without the danger of riding in traffic. Many of those road rules can be carried on beyond the bicycle. Helmets are provided for those who need them.
Dick Winters says, “The rules the we teach while riding a bike will eventually be used when they get behind the wheel.” He’s right. Understanding proper cycling etiquette leads to a better understanding of the rules of the road.
As school comes to an end, bike riding provides a sense of independence for Mecklenburg County youth, and parents like Konji Boakye realize that riding with your friends over the summer is part of growing up in the south, although Isaiah, her youngest, still isn’t comfortable on a bicycle. Like many of the parents, she wanted to take advantage of the learning in group experience and it worked. Like many of the riders today, Isaiah arrived walking and left peddling.
Not every rider today was a beginner, however. Desiree Taylor made a promise to her son that she would buy a bike for herself and join him on bike rides when he learned to ride. As the event ended, it was obvious that Emery Taylor was learning to ride his bicycle. Years without riding a bicycle had Desiree worried she might be rusty, but after a little coaching from a volunteer, mom was back in the saddle and making plans for her new bike.
[clear-line]
January 12th Learn to Ride