By KATE HUNTER
For someone like me – a child of the seventies whose scarred knees tell the story of poorly judged corners, the idea of an Australian kid not being able to ride a bike was inconceivable.
Riding a two-wheeler was considered a skill as essential as walking.
Today, it seems riding a bike an optional extra, like tennis or gymnastics.
I heard of a high school in Brisbane that offers bike riding lessons before the year 8 camp. Mountain biking is one of the activities on offer and a fair percentage of kids CAN’T RIDE A BIKE AT ALL. Their parents didn’t teach them. They never had the chance to teach themselves.
These kids can probably perform a complete restore on an iPhone without losing a single contact, but they can’t pedal down a driveway.
I get that it might not matter. Plenty of people never learn to ride a bike and their lives remain rich and fulfilled. I understand that parents worry about cars and crazies and bike riding isn’t a priority.
But I think those kids are missing out.
My first bike was a gold dragster with a long, glittery gold seat and an upturned u-shaped ‘sissy-bar’. I learned to ride it on the rooftop of Indooroopilly Shoppingtown, which closed at noon on a Saturday, leaving the carpark a perfect arena for bike riding. The metal speed-bumps were excellent jumps for more accomplished riders.
I don’t remember my parents teaching me to ride. I don’t remember training wheels. I do remember being left to learn, and feeling so desperate to be like the bigger kids that I ignored the pain of scraped ankles and the embarrassment of a sideways tumble and I worked it out.
Then my bike meant freedom. It was how I got to my friends’ houses and riding around the streets was what we did after school.
I never knew a kid who couldn’t ride. Would I have been unkind to them if I had? I like to think not, but I don’t know.
Bike riding for lots of kids today is a planned ‘activity’ that involves taking bikes to a park, donning helmets, avoiding joggers on designated paths and ringing bells to warn walkers of one’s approach.
It’s a palaver and who can be bothered? I wish I could say I pushed my kids down the street, telling them to be home before the streetlights came on, but no, we schlepped to the park and I held onto their seats until they were confident.
They wear helmets and ring bells. I like my son to call me when he arrives at his mate’s house.
But at least they can ride. There were tears and falls, but I insisted.
My daughter told me, as I pressed a tissue to her bleeding knee, that she was more interested in horse riding than bike riding. I replied that she had more chance of getting a Malvern Star than a pony, so the bike lessons were more practical.
I couldn’t care less if she never rode a bike again, but learning was not negotiable.
When she’s nineteen and her Contiki tour gets to Amsterdam, she’ll be cycling, not smoking dope in a cafe. That’s what I choose to think anyway.
Perhaps I should stop romanticising the past, when all kids slept in single beds, looked up things in encyclopaedias and raced their bikes around the block. None of those things is necessary – there are more comfortable, faster, safer ways to live. But they aren’t as much fun.
Do you think being able to ride a bike is an essential life skill?
Top Comments
Meh. Some learning disabilities prevent people from learning to ride a bike. The LD (the person may struggle with reading or math) may not seem related to something like riding a bike but the coordination needed for keeping ones balance on a two wheel bike is absolutely impacted by the LD. So, rather than judging others with your smug attitude perhaps you should educate yourself on these issues and also learn to mind your own business.
My daughter is 19 and lives in Europe now for college. We're from the US. She never learned to ride a bike in spite of having 3 of them growing up and she manages just fine on the other side of the pond without the ability to ride a bike. She also has a LD that impacted the ability necessary to balance on 2 wheels. She graduated #6 in her high school class from an international baccalaureate program though so I would say she learned to manage her LD quite well through therapy but she still was not able to learn to ride a bike. It has had zero impact on her life and I see it having zero impact on her bright future.
i suppose riding public transport is an essential life skill? and it's still an adventure for kids.