Mentoring newbies

[nuliajuk]

I'm helping out with an informal class put on by a local cycling advocacy group, aimed at encouraging more women to ride. Last Monday we met up at the house of the organizer and met the participants. So far there are as many mentors as participants, but there may be more coming next Monday, when we ride to an empty parking lot and work on some basic skills.
Many of the skills are things I've always taken for granted, like simply taking a hand of the bars to signal, or shoulder checking without wobbling, or even getting out of the saddle on a hill. Like most life-long cyclists, it's never even occurred to me that someone wouldn't ride because of feeling uncomfortable with those things.
We'll also be working on route planning, as it's often not clear (even to us "lifers") what the best route somewhere by bike is.
An interesting experience on the whole. One young woman has never learned to ride a bike, so a local fellow who rescues bikes has found her one to learn on.

[shootingstar]

Admittedly nulijuk, I haven't risen from my saddle going up hills for the past....35 years.

And my partner who cycles on his own across mountain ranges, across Canada-U.S. several times and elsewhere doesn't either. He just bears down and goes up a long climb and is very good at this.

That's great you're teaching/mentoring.

[lph]

Good for you. nuliajuk! I hope you post about your experiences with this. I regularly wonder about what is the best way to encourage more people to take cycling, especially everyday transport cycling. I think the things we "regulars" consider important aren't always the things a newbie finds most challenging.

I agree that basic bike handling is important to feel safe and in control, and that route finding is a very important skill in urban cycling. I used to hate driving a car to places I hadn't been before, because route finding by car was a new skill I wasn't very good at - and if you take a wrong turn you can't just stop, pick up the car and turn around... ;-)

[Crankin]

I don't stand on hills, either, Shooting Star. I find it tiring and counter productive to my speed. I can spin up anything, often faster than others I ride with.
Mentoring new cyclists is very important, Nuliajuk. My club just did a clinic for real beginners, in a parking lot and then 10 miles on a bike trail, followed by a picnic. While I wasn't involved with this, I did speak to the person in charge and she said it went very well. We plan on offering it a few times a year.

[Melalvai]

We decided to cancel our Traffic Skills 101 class because not enough people registered. It was ok to have 2 students in March when the weather was awful, but the weather is perfect now and we only had 2 students register. We are going to replace it with a series of 1-hr workshops followed by 1/2-hr practical (parking lot or road). Our first workshop will be bike maintenance because that is a popular topic and I think it will draw a lot of people. Maybe we'll do a workshop that is just for women too.

[lor]

As a road bike newbie, I am appreciative of mentors! I'm keeping an eye out for classes in my area, I think I found one in June - the info is a little vague. I'm sure I could use some tips on shifting (when, how hard/soft to be pedaling, etc.), and just learning general biking etiquette. I'm also planning on taking my LBS up on their free weekly maintenance classes. They rotate between 4 class subjects each month.