I learned to ride a bike on the sidewalk in front of our house on South 44th Street. My first bike was a hand-me-down: my sister's garish pink Huffy with white tires and streams on the handlebars. You can imagine how excited I was to receive a "boy" bike for my birthday.
I bring this up because Buffmeat asked for some information about good places to teach a child to ride a bike without training wheels. We are looking for flat, level areas that "give" a little upon impact. Various parking lots are, of course, an option. But falling off a bike in a parking lot can be awfully unpleasant.
Do you have any suggestions? Buffmeat lives on the north side of town, if that affects your input.
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I’d start at the top of the dam at Holmes Lake, and just let gravity be your friend. Coming down that hill, it’s easy to hit 30 MPH for an adult. A kid could get to half of that, easy.
Once he/she conquers that, everything else will seem easy. 😉
Riding that path up hill is great for speed control and then it flattens at the top. Don’t have any dangerous down hills until he has made it all the way around….........
Thanks for the tips! I’m not sure if I’M in good enough shape to start this lesson, but it always seems to be a childhood memory kids remember. I grew up next to a field and aside from falling on the wrong kind of weed (ouch!), it was a good place to take a dive if you had to.
You might try to find a local baseball field with a plain dirt infield. You might get a little dusty, but that’s ok. Just don’t ride on it while it’s soft. It’d be rude to leave tracks.
How about a tennis court? It has a flat, hard surface, but shouldn’t hurt as bad as concrete.
I’d go with a track, if you could sneak onto Wesleyan or Northeast you would be in good shape.
That’s a great idea!
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