Ah, we finally get to the guts of this discussion. Thanks for putting it so well, Veronica.

Quote Originally Posted by Veronica View Post
No man's wisdom extends beyond his experience...

... Every mile I ride adds to my wisdom.
To learn new skills, we have to put ourselves in the situation to learn and be willing to try. Those of us who don't ride with a group often aren't going to learn group-riding skills, even though we may be very skilled riders otherwise. I can't do trackstands because I've never bothered to go out and practice (there's no guarantee I'd learn if I practiced, but I certainly won't learn if I don't try). Some things we pick up through years of riding, like grabbing the water bottle while pedaling or high-speed pot-hole avoidance, but other things (maybe snot-rockets) take more conscious effort. I've never learned the snot-rocket, so it either goes on my gloves or I pull a bandana from my pocket and wipe while riding. I can put a gloved hand on my front tire to remove road debris if something gets stuck on the tire. But I'm not skilled at 50 mph descents because I never ride hills long enough to hit that speed. I do think that maybe those of us who started riding in the 70s and 80s had a learning edge over those who start riding now, because with downtube shifters you were forced to take either hand off the bar frequently so you immediately got comfortable riding one-handed either side.