Learning to Ride

I'm dedicating this post to individuals who don't know how to ride a bike but want to learn. It is possible and it will be a good decision! It will take some pushing out of your comfort zone, but is so amazingly worth it!

I've made it my New Year's resolution for the past 3-4 years (since about age 18 or 20) to learn how to ride a bike, but I finally took action by getting hold of Southern Tier Bike Project, approximately in May of 2011. Gary, who runs the website referred me to Steve. Steve was very friendly when he met me, and offered a 15 speed blue Pacific mountain bike. He saw how poor of a rider I was (I couldn't pedal one revolution without stopping and, and offered to walk to a nearby parking lot to practice and do some figure eights. We spent a solid hour and a half in this lot.

That night, I again lost sleep about how much fun I would be having in the future.

My first commute was with people who were significantly stronger bikers than I was (not that it would have taken much). They were fearless of traffic and were moving what felt very fast. The first week of commuting was very scary. My comfort zone was pushed to its maximum and then some. I had a few close calls with curbs and nearly skidded out while turning. I think that the only way to really get a full appreciation for riding.


One of my fondest memories of learning to ride occurred at 4 am on a weekend morning. I had enjoyed a relaxing evening with friends and elected to go for a ride over to Johnson City (under 4 miles roundtrip). The joy of rushing down hills with minimal traffic in the cool summer breeze was really fantastic!