I’m the youngest of three children. Somehow, when it came to transitioning me from my Hello Kitty–bedecked trike to a real cruiser, I simply slipped through the cracks. My mother has mumbled something about always living on a hill. And I admittedly have never been much of an outdoor kid. While my peers were pedaling around the neighborhood, I was playing at getting murdered in an award-winning indie film.
Then I met my other half, a fixed-gear cycling fanatic. Pretty much the only way in which we aren’t compatible is that, while I’m a natural on the Peloton, he loves few things more than a ride on the W&OD Trail. It turns out that love does indeed force us to do some crazy things. Like attempting to ride a bike for the first time at 40.
But I’m not alone. According to Yvette White of Fairfax Alliance for Better Bicycling, her organization hosts between three and five group classes for adult learners every year, mostly in the spring and summer. BikeArlington also offers adult beginner classes.
White helped set me up with cycling instructor Cathy Miller. The almost otherworldly patient and kind Miller has been teaching classes for around four years. Adults who want to learn to ride a bike for the first time are overwhelmingly female, she told me, and many originate from countries where such an activity was taboo for girls. “I love teaching adults and get really excited for them when they succeed. The grin on their face says it all,” she said in an email before my lesson.
She anticipated that two or three hours, at $75 per hour, would be enough to take me from the training wheels that just didn’t seem to work for me—she later explained that they’re no longer recommended, even for children—to beginning to ride the Walmart boys’ BMX bike I’d bought on the cheap.
I arrived early for our meeting at a quiet Fairfax park. Miller was already waiting. The first order of business was to teach me the ABC bike check, which means making sure that air, brakes, chain, and quick release are all in working order. Then she dug into her tool kit to remove my pedals.
It might seem counterintuitive, but Miller told me that in the early stages of learning, pedals can get in the way. She had me start by sitting on my bike and using my feet to propel me forward. This, I could do. Soon, she advanced me to the next level, coasting. I hopped three times to build up momentum, and then … crash! Finding my balance proved more difficult than I expected.
At the one-hour point, Miller said that a 10-minute break might help my brain absorb some of what it had learned so far about making tiny adjustments to keep myself upright. She was mostly right. For the next hour, I made slow progress, coasting for the length of one parking space, then two, finally making it through about half the lot.
But by the end of two hours, I was mentally exhausted and physically bruised. It turns out, not everyone is able to learn in one session. Still, Miller was confident that I would soon succeed. In fact, we scheduled another session. I returned to that parking lot on a weekend soon after. In the first hour, Miller gave me back my pedals. In the second, we realized that my boys’ bike was a bit too small for me to pedal effectively. We plan on one more lesson to get me established once I have a bicycle that fits me correctly.
My goal is to bike with my love from our house to the nearest barbecue restaurant. And sooner rather than later, it will be a reality. I may always be an indoor kid, but, I’ve realized, pedaling outside has its perks.
Feature image by Ashleigh Corbin
This story originally appeared in our April issue. For more stories like this, subscribe to the magazine.
