From personal experience, my first time on a bike was July of this year at the age of 37. I started on a comfort bike and literally learned in the cul-du-sac. No training wheels and no falls. It was not that difficult, I thought it would be awful. At first I was so slow. But I practiced and practiced and quickly got the hang of it. About 3 weeks later, I was bored with the comfort bike, sold it and now have my Trek 1000.