Bicycling Skill Improvement for Beginners
Johnny Ngai
Do: Ride in a no car location such as Central Park, Prospect Park or the Belt
Parkway bike path by yourself. It's the only way you can get enough practice to eventually improve your skill.
Look at your tires every 5 to 10 minutes for flats. If you see that your tire is flat, stop immediately because the metal rim will crush your inner tube against the concrete pavement
and produce 10 -15 holes on your inner tube. A run in with a pothole could damage your wheel because now you have no air in you tire to cushion the pothole's impact. Carry a
strong lock such as a $15 Kmart U type and lock your front wheel and the frame to a sign pole. If you no longer have a bike, you can't improve you bicycling skills.
Install a $15 Kmart speedometer on your bike so you can monitor your progress in speed and distance. Wear a helmet and a pair of eye glasses . If you are going downhill at a moderate
speed of 20 mph in Central Park and a sesame seed size insect fly into your eye, you will crash.
Don't: Ride in Central Park on a nice weekend summer afternoon. The place is a mad house with
runners, bicyclist and roller bladers bumping into each other.
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