Quote Originally Posted by Jiten View Post
Hi gals. I just signed up. I've just discovered this forum and have been reading many posts for two days. I just finished reading every post on this thread, and I knew I had to join this community. The moral support here is fantastic!

I'm a relatively inexperienced cyclist, although quite experienced in falling off my bike, haha. Like many in this forum, I never learned how to ride a bike when I was a child and had to teach myself, through sheer persistence, how to ride one as an adult. I've had many falls, and I still remember each of those falls, but I also learned from each mistake I made which caused me to fall (for example, I learned that a street post won't move out of the way just because you're a newbie cyclist). One of my falls was really bad--I flew over the bike handles and landed hard on my helmet. I'm pretty sure my helmet saved me from having a broken skull. Before I discovered this forum, I thought I was the only one who learned how to bike as an adult, and the only one who falls off bikes, haha. Man, it's so good to learn I'm not the only one. I should have known about this forum several years ago when I first taught myself how to ride a bike.

Reading the posts here has inspired me even more to dust off my mountain bike, do the basic checks and adjustments, and to start riding again. I'm also contemplating getting myself a Bike Friday. I'll record those here as my weekly achievement as a "newbie".

Welcome Jiten!

I hope that your falls become a thing of the past for you soon. Practice does wonders for balance and confidence. I rode as a kid and just got back into biking again last year after a long absence. I had a lot of falls in the begining. Congratulations on having the courage to get back on after a fall and keep going. Try to have someone from a bike shop watch you on your bike and check your saddle and handlebar height for proper fit.