Just Like Riding a Bike

You know, I’ve always really hated the phrase “it’s just like riding a bike”. I have no problems with the sentiment behind it, it’s just that I, uh, can’t actually ride a bike per se, so to blank apply the whole “just like riding a bike” statement to so many things in life actually suggests that I can’t do any of them either, despite them being easy to retain once mastered.

I mean, I can sort of ride a bike. Like, I can get go in a straight line from A to B, if there are no cars, if it’s flat, if I have at least a couple of metres breathing room on either side of me. I’ll be white-knuckling the handlebars the whole time, but I will arrive at the destination, with or without grace. So in the most literal sense, to say I can’t ride a bike would be inaccurate, but I can’t ride a bike in the sense that I can’t navigate public highways for a significant period of time on a bicycle without legitimate concern for my physical, emotional and spiritual wellbeing.

Anyway, my goal for this summer is to overcome my lack of cyclical skills, so I can avoid forever more the look of bemusement people’s faces when I try to explain to them the above. Today I managed to cycle up and down my friend’s lane a bunch of times, witthout falling off(!) although I did have to perform a couple of rather panicked emergency stops in order to avoid careering into cars, walls, small children etc. At least the only way is up.