Now that I have a bike, I have been trying to bike to work. I say "trying" because, even though I have successfully made it to work on a bike twice and home from work once, I'm still not sure this bicycle commuting thing is for me. To begin with, I've just learned that I ride entirely wrong. Well, I guess the riding is okay, it is the starting and stopping that are wrong. I keep the seat low enough so that I can touch my toes to the street without having to get off the seat. Until a couple of days ago, when I started reading up on bike riding form, I just thought this was how everyone did it. So I start by straddling the seat with my toes on the ground, and then just put my feet on the pedals and go. Works fine for me. But it turns out that, if you can put your feet on the ground, the seat is too low. One is supposed to start by straddling the bar, and then lift one's rear end to the seat by pushing down on the pedal. In other words, you are supposed to be in motion BEFORE getting on the seat. This just blows my mind. So today, with some coaching from David, I tried raising my seat and doing it the right way. First I fell trying to get on the bike, and then, at the first stoplight, I fell trying to get off the bike. Finally I just lowered the seat and did it the old way. Is this terrible? For David (and probably most other people) it just comes so easily. He even said that it never occurred to him that somebody would not know how to get on a bike. I am just so frustrated. I think it is like trying to learn a foreign language -- you can understand the grammar and vocabulary, but unless you start speaking the language as a child, you will always have the wrong accent. I may be able to get on a bike and ride, but I fear I will never be a fluent cyclist.
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