On-Ramp, A Blog By Tom Fudge

You Can You Ride A Bike If You Just Believe In Yourself

Monday, June 6, 2011

SAN DIEGO — Viral videos don't often give us the inspiration we need to get involved in active transportation. But this one does. Check out this wonderful (and very funny) motivational speech by a little kid who just learned how to ride a bike.

Video

Comments

Avatar image for user 'Greg Duch'

Greg Duch | June 6, 2011 at 5:38 p.m. ― 2 years, 9 months ago

Bike riding is THE PROTOTYPICAL METAPHOR FOR HUMAN LIVING ITSELF.
" As in riding a bike, one must continue moving forward in order to maintain one's balance.---"Einstein's THIRD LAW OF MOTION MEETS FREUDIAN ANALYSIS"

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radiofree | June 6, 2011 at 10:57 p.m. ― 2 years, 9 months ago

from Energy and Equity by Ivan Illich

Man, unaided by any tool, gets around quite efficiently. He carries one gram of his weight over a kilometer in ten minutes by expending 0.75 calories. Man on his feet is thermodynamically more efficient than any motorized vehicle and most animals. For his weight, he performs more work in locomotion than rats or oxen, less than horses or sturgeon. At this rate of efficiency man settled the world and made its history. At this rate peasant societies spend less than 5 per cent and nomads less than 8 per cent of their respective social time budgets outside the home or the encampment.

Man on a bicycle can go three or four times faster than the pedestrian, but uses five times less energy in the process. He carries one gram of his weight over a kilometer of flat road at an expense of only 0.15 calories. The bicycle is the perfect transducer to match man’s metabolic energy to the impedance of locomotion. Equipped with this tool, man outstrips the efficiency of not only all machines but all other animals as well.

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Avatar image for user 'To_Tell_you_The_truth'

To_Tell_you_The_truth | June 7, 2011 at 10:09 a.m. ― 2 years, 9 months ago

More people (kids especially) would ride if there were more bike paths and safer routes. We need to create networks of bike PATHS that are separate from vehicular traffic. Other countries have them. Denmark and Germany's bike fatalities are much lower than ours.

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Tom Fudge, KPBS Staff | June 7, 2011 at 4:56 p.m. ― 2 years, 9 months ago

Cycling is the ultimate harness of human energy... for transportation anyway. Too bad copyright claims shut down the video.

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Avatar image for user 'Greg Duch'

Greg Duch | June 7, 2011 at 6:09 p.m. ― 2 years, 9 months ago

So, who taught you to ride a bike? Seriously, I am interested. Cycling is a child's introduction to a means of locomotion other one's feet and hands. At least, most kids learn to ride a bike before they learn to drive a car---PERHAPS, EXCEPT IN CALIFORNIA! Furthermore, the concept of cycles and the ebb and flow of life is enscribed into a child's memory via his psycho-motor learning-- a very powerful learning device!
So take yoUr place on the GREAT MANDELA, AS IT MOVES THROUGH YOUR BRIEF MOMENT OF TIME!

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Tom Fudge, KPBS Staff | June 8, 2011 at 10:02 a.m. ― 2 years, 9 months ago

I was taught to ride a bike at age 5, by my mother, when I lived with my family in married student housing in Iowa City, home to the University of Iowa. The housing complex was on the edge of town and it was next to a hill with a gentle slope. My mom put me at the top of the hill and told me to coast down it to learn how to balance. The only problem: There was a creek at the bottom of the hill and I hadn't yet learned to use the brakes. You can imagine. Using a hill to teach a kid to bike was what I also did when I taught my son to ride a bike. The hill was at the 39th Street Park in Normal Heights.

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Avatar image for user 'Greg Duch'

Greg Duch | June 8, 2011 at 4:55 p.m. ― 2 years, 9 months ago

I was taught to ride in our New York City Queensborough neighborhood by my brother, older than I by six years. Oh what a proud day when the "training wheels" came off. What a whirling sense of accomplishment was achieved when i was able to move forward, without losing balance on just two wheels.I recall that initial sense of surprise of being free of any "crutches" and able to do what had seemed impossible, just months earlier. That experience was the first clear case of needing to believe some action (riding a bike) was truly possible. Once that crucial sense of self-confidence in the uncompromised belief in the possibility of riding two wheels was attained, it all seemed as natural as walking, crawling, or eating already were. I think I rode for about 4 hours straight (well, I did learn how to do turns too.) that first day.

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