u/furlintdust

This is going to be long. There's a TLDR at the end, which also serves as step by step instructions if you want to skip ahead.

I learned to ride a bike as a child. I had a pink huffy with a banana seat. I had a pink ten speed as a teen. I remember riding it to the library or the store a couple of times but I never felt super confident on it. My parents and brother didn't bike. I think I went riding with my boyfriend once or twice. But once I got my driver's liscense that was the end of that. I didn't bring my bike to college and few people rode bikes there anyway. (I've was back this spring and that has completely changed. They've put in bike lanes all over campus and there were tons of bikes parked outside the dorms. I couldn't believe it.)

Fast forward to 1998 and my husband I bought a pair of entry level Univega hybrids. I don't even remember buying them. I don't think we ever even rode them. They lived in our garage and moved with us a couple of times until we got to outside DC in 2024.

Now we have a 45 mile rail trail outside our back door. We have bike lanes, some even protected. It was time to dust off the bikes.

My husband rode all through college and got right back on just like they say. Me, not so much. I could still ride it, and I quickly got stopping, but I could not start to save my life. (or turn for that matter, but I'm still working on that.)

I eventually got to the point where I know my seat isn't high enough but it was as high as I could manage and still start from the seat with one leg on the ball of my foot on the ground. But, as you all know, this is very unstable and the start is unreliable. Plus I could feel it was very hard on my knees. I knew I had to try to fix it.

I watched every video on this. Many times. Many, many times. I would take my bike out somewhere and get into the correct starting position and just freeze. My brain wouldn't let me push down. It didn't know what would happen.

I took a basic skills class and a road basics class with the local bike advocacy group. But neither taught this skill. In the road class the instructors noted that all but one participant had their seat set too low. So I think this is a very common problem with adult learners. You get to the "raise your seat just enough to pedal" stage but then the instruction stops before the "how to correctly start" stage.

Now I had mastered the stopping part from watching the videos. And I would do that even though I could technically stop while staying seated. But every time I tried to push down that pedal without being seated it just wouldn't happen.

So what changed? One of the instructors at the road class told me to practice scooting around with one foot on a pedal. And to lean the bike towards the standing foot so that your weight is going that way and you don't push the bike over when you push down on the pedal. And while I couldn't quite manage the scooting bit, it made me realize two things. One, the starting procedure is the exact opposite of the stopping procedure. And two, I could separate the "push down" from the "sit down" and learn it in two parts.

This seems rather obvious now, but it didn't occur to me until now for some reason. So I took my bike to my parking garage and told my stupid brain to let me push down on that pedal and that I would immediately put my other foot back down. I wouldn't try to get on the seat or pedal or anything. Just push down the pedal and see what happens. And I didn't die. I did it again and again. Just pushed the pedal and then leaned over onto my ground leg and stopped. Then I started gliding a bit. I glided a bit longer and longer. And eventually I kind of accidentally ended up on the seat. I spent about an hour total. At first it was taking me 2-3 tries at a time to get into the saddle, but eventually I learned to time the push off with the leg on the ground with pushing forward on the pedal and pretty soon I was getting it each time I tried.

It's totally worth it. The start is so much more reliable. No more balancing on tip-toe. And I did a ride today and could feel the difference in my knees immensly. I can't believe it took me two years, but I couldn't fine instructions that actually broke it down or a video that showed someone just learning.

Anyway, I hope this helps someone.

Here are all the videos I watched over and over again:

https://youtu.be/R0CJk5UpY4w?si=rbHsyFBGDsEnJEUY

https://youtu.be/O42KZ3db9kM?si=saytpRiVghazadjL

https://youtu.be/LHkgTuwtKOg?si=ht492qaFciA0pr90

https://youtu.be/8lcCchmVujo?si=40gGbfloKzQqXMaL

https://youtu.be/ObFkNRSNB88?si=szHj5QivfU_QHvuz

https://youtu.be/wpMQ6rK0hvw?si=rVvwRtqdY1f-M5hY

edit to add:
https://sheldonbrown.com/starting.html

TLDR -

1. Watch the videos.

2. Set your seat to a height where you are comfortable - probably with the balls of your feet touching the ground when seated. NOT tippy-toes. Make sure you are in a gear that is easy to start in. Not too low, but not too hard either.

3. Practice stopping first. Set up for a stop by putting your weight on one foot while it is in the 6'oclock position while taking the other foot off the pedal and letting it hang in front of the pedal as you coast and apply the breaks and then hopping down as you place the hanging foot on the ground as you stop. Once you have stopping and coming off the saddle down...

4. Practice setting up for a stop, put your weight on one foot, take the other off and let it hang and stand up as if you were going to hop down, but don't instead stay there a bit and then sit back down and continue pedaling. This is the second step of the propper start.

5. Now you can set up for the start. Straddle your top bar and lean to one side. (probably your non-dominant side) Use your other foot to pedal backwards and place the pedal in the power position. (somewhere between 1 o'clock and 2:30 - I don't know if it's because I'm short or my leg proportions, but I'm more comfortable at around 2:30, the angle is to much if the pedal is higher - but you want it high enough that you get a good push to get going.)

6. Now push off with your ground leg while you push down on the pedal with the other leg and then immediately put the ground leg back down and stop.

7. Push off again and try to glide a bit. Continue until you are gliding a good way and feel that you have time to try to sit in the seat and find the other pedal like in step 4.

8. I actually started rocking back a bit before the push off and I think about pedalling forward and not pushing down so that the bike doesn't tip to that side.

9. That's it. I just needed to know that step 6 existed. Now set your seat to the height so that you can get good leg extension and enjoy!

I’m tatting an edging for my daughter’s wedding veil. This pattern is reminiscent of the bead work on the dress. I found that using a shuttle was going to have me constantly winding shuttles and adding beads. So I’m trying to wrap my head around how to needle tat it since this is a requisite two shuttle pattern. So any needle tatting pattern or tutorial that explains how to do the opposing rings would help immensely.

Thanks so much.