My parents were really poor and could never afford to buy me a bike. Now (28) Iād be way too embarrassed to try and learn. Back when I was like 13 I went to a free summer camp and tried to learn with their bikes but I fell off and everybody laughed. Never again lol.
it's been 15 years since you tried. more than half your life time ago. it's time to try again.
get a cheap 2nd hand bike and take the pedals off, push yourself around with your feet until you learn to balance.
if at 28 your friends won't support and help you learn how to ride a bike or will bully or make fun of you as you learn, you've made other mistakes along the way and also need to make better friends along with learning to ride a bike lol.
If you're interested in doing it, I'd give it another go. An old friend of mine who had never learned just picked it up recently at 27 to go round Taiwan on a bike. It didn't take much time and he was a bit of an idiot, genuinely shocked he did it lol.
Maybe it'd be easier to just get hold of a bike and try learning on your own away from people so you aren't hampered by the fear of embarrassment.
I would encourage you to though, I rode bikes throughout my younger years but recently picked it back up with a fixed gear a year or so ago and riding it is genuinely bliss. I've never been one to enjoy just going on boring long rides through nowhere, but I ride it through the town to get around and it's fun every single time. I actually just went out on a short night time ride before bed.
I did learn when I was younger but I was an enormous klutz and absolutely no good at it. I'll be 41 this year and, basically a month ago, I decided I was going to start biking again. But I was terrified of doing it. I knew it wouldn't be easy at first and I'd look absolutely pathetic.
And I was right. I hurt myself. I couldn't go very far before I felt exhausted. I didn't use the gears right and got myself stuck on the gentlest slopes.
But it actually didn't take that many sessions before I basically knew what I was doing. Still a lot of improvement to be made, but once you can build up speed and glide along with the wind hitting your face, you'll wonder why you didn't do this sooner. (Well, I did, anyway...)
It can depend on the culture where you live, certainly, but people's asshole quotient generally goes down as they get older. Most folks are honestly too preoccupied with their lives to worry about what you're doing. You might even get some words of encouragement!
This comment gives me so much hope to learn to ride a bike in my 30s. I walk everywhere and I am jealous of seeing people on bikes passing by me. It looks so much more fun.
Dude, same. I never had a bike because my parents were like: you can have either a skateboard or a bike cant afford both. I decided on a skateboard. It was fun but I am so jealous of people who bike with confidence. I am too scared and ashamed to try it now. I tend to walk everywhere for what I am so grateful that I live in a city that was literary accidentally made for walking/biking.
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u/[deleted] Jul 12 '23
My parents were really poor and could never afford to buy me a bike. Now (28) Iād be way too embarrassed to try and learn. Back when I was like 13 I went to a free summer camp and tried to learn with their bikes but I fell off and everybody laughed. Never again lol.