Gail is a friend of mine and former colleague. Yesterday, she lifted up the seat of my bike and showed me how to mount and dismount. She said it would be much more comfortable riding. Gee, I didn’t know that. All I felt needed was to touch the ground with my feet. Maybe Rebb is already doing this, but someone can benefit from her instruction. So, I’m writing this down.
On mounting bike, first, step on the right pedal down, and at the same time, my left foot pushes the other pedal forward. This brings up my hip naturally to the seat. On dismounting, I push brake as my right foot pedals down, and then I lean my bike leftward, reaching the ground with my left foot. I did this successfully yesterday, but old habit is hard to break. I have to practice this again. I still try to reach the ground by pointing my toes without dismounting. I have to remember to lean my bike leftward. But I felt comfortable riding. I didn’t need to bend my knees too much.
I showed Gail my manga characters that I had drawn twenty years ago. I drew most of our coworkers and boss in our operating systems and network departments. We had fun! But she forgot a copy of her manga character, so, here it is.
4 comments:
Keiko, I read your “Low and High Gears” blog. I’m glad you got your gears set and are riding more smoothly!
You made the drawing here? I love it!
I don’t know if I’ve ever been shown proper way to ride. Maybe I was shown little things along the way, but now that I know, I do what’s comfortable. For me, if I think too much, rather than do what feels right, my reflex responses may not work properly. I suppose it also depends on a person’s biking habits. Safety and comfort is most important. It sounds like you are on your way :)
Rebb,
I'll be away a day or two to my friend's house, but when I return I'll ride bike again, and this time, I'm determined to learn mount, dismount, and ride properly. I hope Gail come back and check, and probably I have a lot to learn from her. She is good instructor. Hopefully, I'll blog more this kind of important things!
It must be so nice to have someone around to give you tips like this. I started riding a bike again very recently - the first time in many years. I wanted to be able to ride my bike to work, so that I could cut down on the amount I was driving. I'm not quite ready to ride the whole way yet, so I got myself a folding bike so it would be easy to get in and out of my car. Anyway - suffice it to say that while riding a bike is, in many ways, just like riding a bike, I could definitely use pointers like that along the way. It has been decades since I was riding regularly.
Chris,
Thank you for your comment. Dahon bikes are popular in Japan because our cities are over populated and we don't have enough space anywhere. But in the U.S.,people can load their regular bikes into train and bus. That's luxury. But I think luxury or convenience depends on each person's point of view.
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