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I'll suggest that we don't forget to how to ride a bike because a very important part of that skill is confidence and self-belief. It's similar to swimming. Doe

I'll suggest that we don't forget to how to ride a bike because a very important part of that skill is confidence and self-belief. It's similar to swimming. Does anybody ever forget how to swim? If you don't believe you can ride a bike then you'll tend to wobble around slowly and cautiously and overcorrect by manual steering. If you don't believe you can swim then you'll try to constantly hold your face too high above the water and you will struggle because keeping your head high is not an ideal posture for buoyancy and balance. If you believe you can ride a bike then you will set off confidently and move faster, which helps with balance and control. These are examples of abilities in which it's easy to get stuck in a local optima which feels safer but is very inefficient, such as cycling with your feet ready to touch the ground or swimming with your head high above the water. This theory, of course, doesn't mean the research in the article is wrong, but maybe it's just a part of the truth.

baddox 8y ago
I don’t think that the confidence requirement is a major factor. I suspect that activities that require similar coordination of motor skills but which aren’t dangerous to fail at are also hard to forget. I’m thinking of things like juggling or tying a shoe.
odiroot 8y ago
Yes, I forgot how to swim. Learned it in primary school and didn't practice at all until Uni. Nearly 10 years later and I struggle to keep from drowning.
laurieg 8y ago
I think this is a great point. More confidence -> more speed -> more stable bicycle. Part of me wonders if learning to ride a bike actually isn't all that difficult in the grand scheme of things, but we all remember it as being tricky because we did it at such a young (and uncoordinated) age.
- Izkata 8y ago
  In one episode of Canada's Worst Driver, when the host finds out a contestant never learned to ride a bike, they went out to teach him. It didn't take very long, though offhand I can't remember a duration.
- jayd16 8y ago
  >Part of me wonders if learning to ride a bike actually isn't all that difficult This is my theory as well. I can't think of anyone (baring some handicap or injury) who has attempted to learn and wasn't able to ride.
- AngryData 8y ago
  If you remove the pedals and have a kid just push themselves around with their feet first, they learn how to ride a bike WAY faster. In part because they don't have to learn to pedal at the same time, but I think it's more because they are confident they can put their feet down to catch themselves whenever they want without getting caught in the pedals. Training wheels make learning to ride a bike harder in many cases. Either the kid relies on the training wheels to hold them up instead of balancing, or if they don't have the ground conditions to do that they fear the training wheels catching dirt or grass or a rock and suddenly flinging them around making them crash.
aidenn0 8y ago
But, anecdotally at least, you can unlearn how to ride a bike: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFzDaBzBlL0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFzDaBzBlL0
maxxxxx 8y ago
I think you are on to something. Biking doesn't require any special muscles or strength so you can do it purely from memory. With other activities you also need some physical skills untrained people don't have. When I did kickboxing I used to be able to kick really high but after a few years of not doing it the muscle memory is still there but I just don't have the strength and flexibility to go really high.
Too 8y ago
Yep. A bike is self stabilizing due to the design of the dropout on the fork. If you lean left it automatically turns left which will push you upright again. It is hard to not stay balanced on a bike. Unless you are on uneven or slippery surface, or do other stunts, the only way you can really fall is if you are moving too slow or you are deliberately forcing your handlebars to turn very hard.

baddox 8y ago

I don’t think that the confidence requirement is a major factor. I suspect that activities that require similar coordination of motor skills but which aren’t dangerous to fail at are also hard to forget. I’m thinking of things like juggling or tying a shoe.

odiroot 8y ago

Yes, I forgot how to swim. Learned it in primary school and didn't practice at all until Uni. Nearly 10 years later and I struggle to keep from drowning.

laurieg 8y ago

I think this is a great point. More confidence -> more speed -> more stable bicycle. Part of me wonders if learning to ride a bike actually isn't all that difficult in the grand scheme of things, but we all remember it as being tricky because we did it at such a young (and uncoordinated) age.

Izkata 8y ago
In one episode of Canada's Worst Driver, when the host finds out a contestant never learned to ride a bike, they went out to teach him. It didn't take very long, though offhand I can't remember a duration.
jayd16 8y ago
>Part of me wonders if learning to ride a bike actually isn't all that difficult This is my theory as well. I can't think of anyone (baring some handicap or injury) who has attempted to learn and wasn't able to ride.
AngryData 8y ago
If you remove the pedals and have a kid just push themselves around with their feet first, they learn how to ride a bike WAY faster. In part because they don't have to learn to pedal at the same time, but I think it's more because they are confident they can put their feet down to catch themselves whenever they want without getting caught in the pedals. Training wheels make learning to ride a bike harder in many cases. Either the kid relies on the training wheels to hold them up instead of balancing, or if they don't have the ground conditions to do that they fear the training wheels catching dirt or grass or a rock and suddenly flinging them around making them crash.

aidenn0 8y ago

But, anecdotally at least, you can unlearn how to ride a bike: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFzDaBzBlL0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFzDaBzBlL0

maxxxxx 8y ago

I think you are on to something. Biking doesn't require any special muscles or strength so you can do it purely from memory. With other activities you also need some physical skills untrained people don't have. When I did kickboxing I used to be able to kick really high but after a few years of not doing it the muscle memory is still there but I just don't have the strength and flexibility to go really high.

Too 8y ago

Yep. A bike is self stabilizing due to the design of the dropout on the fork. If you lean left it automatically turns left which will push you upright again. It is hard to not stay balanced on a bike. Unless you are on uneven or slippery surface, or do other stunts, the only way you can really fall is if you are moving too slow or you are deliberately forcing your handlebars to turn very hard.