Getting Back on the Bike
A story of regaining bike riding confidence in adulthood
As I came careening down the greenway on my bike, sun beaming on my face, I realized I felt not just joyful, but confident. Empowered that I was riding my bike by myself to an errand for the second time this past month. (A big deal for anyone who knows me.)
And then it happened. As I approached the intersection where I needed to turn left, my confidence got the best of me when I simultaneously stuck out my left arm to signal to the vehicle behind me and squeezed just the back brake with my right hand. I immediately realized my mistake when I saw my front wheel turning to the right. I was going down.
I felt my momentum pulling me towards the asphalt, too late to course correct. My hands and right knee met the ground with a force, but fortunately it wasn’t bad enough to prevent me from quickly standing up.
Three nearby witnesses all called out to make sure I was ok. As I stood brushing myself off, a woman walking her dog checked in too. She told me she lived in the house on the corner and would be right back if I needed any tissues. I was touched and almost accepted her offer due to my bleeding palm, but my bruised ego got in the way. I felt so foolish.
Having recently gotten back into riding a bike, the first time with any consistency in my adult life, I felt quite shaken. Physically I was just fine, aside from some scrapes and bruises, but mentally I was trembling.
This is exactly what I was afraid of when riding a bike—falling! And it happened when I least expected it, i.e. when I was feeling confident and unafraid.
But alas, I had a library book to return and a bike to get back home before leaving town in under two hours.
So, without much choice, I walked my bike the remaining three blocks to the library, returned my book, and got a band-aid there, for it was only then when I realized a cut on my knee had caused blood to drip down my entire leg. (I’ll save you the gory picture I couldn’t help taking in the library bathroom.)
The irony of this adventure is that I had also planned on grabbing some city bike maps that I’d learned I could pick up for free at the library. Did I proceed to ask the librarian for those, while donning my helmet and fresh bike-crash-cut? You betcha. It felt like the universe was laughing at me but I had to push through.
I wasn’t going to let this incident prevent me from going after the bicycling aspirations I’ve been dreaming up with my partner.
So I stuffed the maps in my pack, took a few deep breaths, and got back on the bike.
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When is the last time you rode a bike in your adulthood? (Assuming you learned to ride one as a kid.)
Studies show that adults ride bikes less than kids do—roughly half of kids under 18 rode a bike in the past year, versus only a third of adults. And it’s skewed towards men, unsurprisingly, with male participation 48% higher than women’s.1
The good news is, adult participation has steadily increased since 2016.
I’m happy to say I’m among that statistic!
Previously held back by a dysfunctional bike, fear2, and some limiting beliefs, I didn’t think “riding a bike” as an adult was for me. But I held onto my bicycle when I moved a few years ago simply because I couldn’t ditch it in my apartment complex under good conscience and my mom told me I might regret getting rid of it. (Moms know best, am I right?)
Flash forward to last year, thanks to a healthy nudge from my partner, I took my bike to a shop to make it operable again. Little by little, I’ve been regaining my riding confidence as he and I use our bikes as a fun way to explore town.
I even rode the Portland Bridge Pedal last year, 23 miles across most of Portland’s bridges, my longest bike ride ever. It was an incredibly rewarding and fun experience, and made me realize I’m physically and mentally capable of more than I know.
The best part of rediscovering bike riding has been the joy it brings me. It’s a shame that so many of us stop riding bikes when we grow up, for it’s one of the easiest ways to “play” as an adult (safety and access concerns aside).
That’s why I’ve been happy to see electric bikes increasing in popularity, as that definitely helps increase riding accessibility.
So now I’ve got my sights set on some bigger ideas, first of which is investing in a proper road bike. It’s still early days and I’ve got a long ways to go, but I think my little incident was a necessary building block in my bike experience.
I’ve got the fall out of the way, and I’m ok!
In fact, as I rode back up the hill I came from that day, I felt proud. A little shaken, sure, but proud that I recovered on my own and got back on that bike in more ways than one.
My most vivid bike-riding memory as a kid was somewhat traumatizing. I remember my brother crashing into me, not realizing I came to a stop, causing me to topple over onto the sidewalk. Even worse, it was right in front of my crush’s house and he saw the whole thing because their family had just gotten home. Funny to look back on now, but as a grade schooler it was mortifying!