Can You Ever Actually Forget How To Ride A Bike?

But I'm picking the bike up in bloody Dalston and am afeared I will be knocked off my bike and mugged if I try... sigh.

This was *exactly* what I forgot the last time I tried to get on a bike.

I have a balance problem which I have suffered my whole life.

I got on a bike a couple of weeks for the first time in god knows how many years. After a minute or so's chaotic lurching it was okay.

as Archel said though, the road awareness factor is u&k here. Low-cut grids in particular are the bane of my cycling life.

What is London like for cyclists? Argh. I just have to make sure I borrow a helmet as well as a bike.

Ah well, it could be good for the confidence thing if I *can* remember how to ride a bike, which I'm convinced is something else I'll be rubbish at. It might be fun!

Wear several pairs of pants if yuo have them ;-)

I forgot how to ride a bike after a nasty accident. The next time I got on the bike, a year later, I couldn't keep the front wheel steady - it started wobbling so much I had to get off and wheel the bike home.

(however, the next time I rode, 6 months after that, it was fine. I love riding my bike)

(bought a copy of Hawksmoor at a local church booksale about six months ago. Still haven't read it)

(and, equally, lots of other books that other people have told me they consider unreadable, like Lanark)

Anyway, what I was going to say was that it's more the Random Capitalisation and archaic spelling that has been a sticking point for people. You just have to get your head around the mindset of a 17th Century architect/alchemist. And I find it helps if you reade itte owt lowde.

(I think this would only work if I turned up on a penny farthing or something.)

((Yes, I know Penny Farthings weren't actually invented in the 17th Century, but it's a joawke!)

Oh god, I already hate dark satanic bendybusses, is my hatred only going to get worse?

kate, then we can go over both southwark bridge and lambeth bridge on the way there if you want! yr absolutely right about flying, it's one of the things that's best about it, i fly in my sleep all the time and being underwater is kind of like that but slower and i am horrible and graceless and uncomfortable on normal dry land, but if i have wheels it's a different thing... have actually got carried away a couple of times and almost thought my jacket was a safety harness and forgot to hold on or pedal. only almost though.

the bendybuses - it's just that they go on for sodding miles anyway, and if you've been passing one between it and the kerb while it was stuck in traffic and you're nearly ahead of it and just then the traffic comes unstuck and the bus starts moving again and it's going marginally faster than you but not fast enough to zoom ahead of you (bendy bus? zoom? pah...) and then it's almost all ahead of you but then the traffic all jams up again, it - well - i've never done ketamin but i think it might be a bit like that. but we'll stay away from them.

(Except the bendybusses, natch.)

Riding a bike is a bit like riding a retarded pony. It's not like a horse, where you just have to point it in the right direction and it will go, more or less of its own accord. A bicycle, you point it in the right direction and it will just run into a car like a pony with no instinct of self-preservation. Stupid bicycle!

Other than that, wow. I'm in bad shape. The muscle memory and the balance came back, but it's hard getting used to the fact that everything - including the curb - is on the opposite side! I didn't even think abou that!

And hills... ::pants:: ...I thought I was in good shape because I can dance for hours and walk for miles without a problem, by my god, hills kick my ass.

I was wrecked and unable to move for most of the afternoon, and my thighs and arse were so bruised I thought I'd just experienced several hours of energetic sex. Ouch.

But I want to do it again! I need me a bicycle!

The last time I tried I think I was 11 and ran into the back of a (motionless) van in traffic.

Oof, I've done that too and my god it hurts! Happens surprisingly often, but you only ever do it once...

Yes please I'd love reference materials Kate!

Yeah, I know 'tis true, pride dents a lot more easily than steel. I did it right by a crowded bus-stop. Some guy cut me up really badly and as I turned round and yelled at him to watch where he was fucking going, I went straight into the back of a queue of cars waiting at a red light. Oh the bitter irony!

I didn't actually fall off my bike or ride into anything, but the most embarrassing moment was when the leader of the tour came over to greet us, as we showed up a bit late, and I immediately knocked my bike over.

If you're as physically uncoordinated as I am, you get used to all this stuff and it stops bothering you.

How was the Hawksmoor?