For the Autistics Who Cannot Cycle

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I cannot either. I was always too scared.

I remember when I was 4 or 5, they were planning to do a bike safety thing at school. I said to my folks, "I want to learn to bike without training wheels!" so they obliged. Just outside where I grew up, there was a steady, slightly sloped grassy hill. That's pretty well how I learned to ride a bike. I'll never forget the time that I crashed into a parked car, lol! I didn't feel bad about it though; dumb maybe, but I remember when my brother did the same thing!

Getting back on a bike 3 years ago felt weird at first as I hadn't been on one since 2002. I started with doing wide, flat gravel rail trails and gradually moved into doing actual trails and just kept at it from there. I have moments where my coordination will just go out the window, but I remember on a slight uphill slope I fell over and landed in a bush! Now I had biked more complicated stuff prior, which is what made it comical! I've been lucky when it comes to wipe outs; I usually wind up landing in the local foliage. My personal best was when I was trying to keep up to the neighbor. one of my wheels slid into a rut and I superman-ed over the handlebars!

Like learning anything, start slowly and go from there; start on flat, wide surfaces; preferably soft ones. Don't worry about shifting; something easy to mid range will suffice. If you're on grass, you'll want to be in an easier gear. Once you have some momentum going, the bike becomes more stable.

Now fencing on the other hand, I suck at fencing. I enjoy it and I've made a lot of close friends through it, but I'm terrible at it. Unless it's blatantly obvious, I don't pick up on the body language and usually wind up parrying with my face!

I never learned how to ride a bike. My mom kept making me try to learn for many years; it wasn't until I was diagnosed with Asperger's at age 12 that she finally stopped trying to make me learn.

I ride a bicycle every day and love it, but for some reason I can't stay balanced or relaxed on any motorbike or moped? They terrify me for some reason. I tried riding one in Thailand once and it was difficult to just start moving without constant thoughts about losing my balance and falling, which causes that to happen...

I can't cycle right now because the front wheel bearings on my bike are busted. It's frustrating. :X

I managed to get a scrap bike from a friend of mine that had wheels the same size as mine, and after swapping the front wheels, I finally had a usable bike again! The front and back tires might be mismatched, but things seem to work just fine. It did take some time to "break in" though, and I still need to do some adjustments on the brakes.

I saw a video today about this "bike" and thought it looked interesting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lKq1fGtXFM

I remember back when I couldn't cycle. My little bike all kitted out with stabilisers, and my dad sitting on the bench, and I just couldn't turn the pedals at all. One day for some reason I then could turn the pedals, and then I slowly begun to actually learn to cycle.

I haven't cycled in a long time, since I ruptured the tube in my back tire several months back. It doesn't help that it's winter too, and I never got around to buying studded tires like I had planned.

I didn't learn to ride a bike until I was 11. My stepdad taught me in the school carpark, heh.

A few years later when I went to high school, I had to ride and I got really good at it. Could beat all the boys on my racer.

Now, many years later, I have a nice bike but the front wheel got buckled when we moved house. Will have to take it to the bike shop to be repaired.

I have a permanent injury which makes cycling impossible for me. It's sad.

^^^ could you ride one of these?


Mine has been great for my SCI rehab.

It’s one thing to cycle fast easily especially if you haven’t cycled in years, yet it’s another to be able to know when to stop especially with cars coming. This is my weakness in cycling. Think I should try cycling again sometime?

Took a while to learn to ride as a kid, but then was okay after that, until my knees gave out some years ago. Now I can't manage the rotation involved in pedaling a bike. Even so, I would like to buy an adult electric trike with cargo baskets, so I can run local errands. Had to give up driving a year ago, partly due to not enough money to pay for needed car repairs, and partly due to sleep apnea. I am being treated for that now, but still can't pay for the car repairs. Also can't afford the adult electric trike. I'll have to say up for it, and maybe sell my car to a relative. I could then add that money to help pay for the trike. I might also eventually be able to pedal the trike in non electric mode, as I have lost a lot of weight, and will continue doing the things that have been helping me to lose the weight. With less weight to deal with, my knees might be able to handle pedaling the trike. Gonna take a long time to save up for it tho.

I would love to ride a bike. I know how, but I have NEVER found a seat that is comfortable. I have tried many seats over the years from small seats, very wide gel seats, you name it. Every one of them press on my "butt bones" to the point that after a short time it's very painful and uncomfortable. I've actually thought an option for a two wheeled bike for me would be taking a metal tractor seat and custom welding it to a bike seat stem and using that.

I did bike for a time when I was first in college but my lack of situational awareness was such that I got hit by a car in an intersection. Thankfully I wasn't seriously hurt, but was taken to the hospital in an ambulance with a very large foot contusion and cuts on my head caused the blood pooling in my eyes as I lay in the ambulance. I panicked because I thought I couldn't see, until the EMT reassured me I lost vision because the blood from my head dripping down into my eyes was temporarily obstructing my vision.

If I could resolve the seat issue I might give biking another try. Those recumbent bikes seem like they go at a snail's pace.

As a kid at age 6 or so learning to ride a bike seemed really difficult. Did have training wheels and fell and skinned my knee a few times and then liked riding a bike pretty well. We moved around a lot and never rode a bike too much. Have no real interest in bike riding since fear falling off it and dislike cycling in traffic.