Question
What are some things you can realistically teach yourself in a weekend?
Answer
Learning to ride a bicycle as an adult, if done exactly right. Took me several weeks of daily practice to figure it out as a kid, because I was doing it wrong (using my older sister's bike that was too big for me). Here's the right way (I taught an adult this way recently). Have an experienced cyclist with you, but don't let them teach you their way. Look on YouTube for videos of this stuff and insist that they follow this plan.
That's it, you've learned to ride a bike. Kids can probably do this too, but I cannot personally testify to it.
What you won't have learned:
You won't be able to do more advanced things like pedaling with your butt off the seat, horse-style mounting, coasting while balancing on one pedal, riding without touching the handlebars (dangerous, but you should eventually learn to do this, as a test of your steering ability; if you cannot do this, it means you still haven't learned to steer properly).
- Get a beginner bike with a high seat range and a low cross bar. Adjust the seat low enough so you can touch the ground with your toes.
- Learn to balance without pedaling on a gentle and straight downhill slope where a gentle kick off allows you to coast for 50 yards or so. Remove pedals if necessary. About 5-10 is enough to get it.
- Once you're able to coast without touching the ground more than 1-2 times (mainly a question of relaxing; the balance comes quickly), raise the seat enough to allow just-comfortable pedaling. Kick off from a curbside, pedal lightly while coasting downhill as before. You're getting used to the movement, not really trying to generate power.
- Now start trying on gentler slopes all the way to flat, with curves. Learn to turn by leaning and countersteering. If somebody is helping you, ask them to SHOW you rather than tell you how to steer. Chances are, if they are experienced cyclists, they countersteer without realizing it.
- Finally, start trying gentle uphill (often, starting with a downhill coast and a wide U-turn will get you gradually into uphill power-pedaling).
- Graduation: learn to start with a pedal-push rather than a ground push. Won't attempt to describe this in words.
That's it, you've learned to ride a bike. Kids can probably do this too, but I cannot personally testify to it.
What you won't have learned:
You won't be able to do more advanced things like pedaling with your butt off the seat, horse-style mounting, coasting while balancing on one pedal, riding without touching the handlebars (dangerous, but you should eventually learn to do this, as a test of your steering ability; if you cannot do this, it means you still haven't learned to steer properly).