Yes, you read correctly.
With the government promoting a car-lite society and encouraging cycling, there is an increase in interest in this sport.
In fact, this "fad" started quite a few years back where you start seeing cycling events organized by companies.
Suddenly, cycling is no longer a leisure activity that you only see people doing at parks and seasides.
There are organized cycling groups on Facebook. You see cyclists going for night cycling or overnight cycling. You see people cycling on the roads with the cyclists in full battle gear that you used to see only in Tour de France or the Olympics. This is definitely necessary given how dangerous it is to cycle in a city like Singapore.
The sports council even tie up with schools to provide cycling lessons to students.
I did a search online and found some schools conducting such lessons.
They have cycling lessons for adults and kids and cycling safety course. The lessons are structured. Mounting and dismounting, balance and coordination, how to steer with confidence, how to start and stop safely are some of the skills covered.
If you feel rich or shy, you can even go for private coaching. The schools promised the lessons will be painless and one even has money-back guarantee if you ever fail.
The one that I really liked promised this:
"You don't fall. Period."
There's nothing wrong paying someone to teach you learn a skill.
That is how we all learn new skills in the fastest way.
Sign up for a baking course if you want to learn how to bake a cake. Take swimming lessons to learn swimming. Learn Taichi from a Taichi master. Take up accounting lesson to learn accounting.
Now with the internet, you can easily pick up a skill without having to take up any courses.
Want to bake a cake, just look up on Youtube and there are many choices for you to choose what kind of cake you want to bake.
My sister learned how to bake cake this way.
The difference between having someone there to teach and guide you is that the instructor would be able to explain why you need to do certain things in certain ways. He or she will also be able to answer any questions that you have in your head. This speeds up the learning process instead of having to trail and error or try to figure out things yourself.
But isn't that one of the best part in your learning journey?
If you discover that if you add the butter after you've mixed the ingredient, the cake will be spongier, will you remember it the next time? If your instructor told you that these are the steps to bake a cake, would you have asked why or tried a different method and discover something better?
Some skills take a longer time to learn while some can be easily picked up.
Learning to play the piano takes a long time. You need to learn how to read scores, the different notes and keys on the piano, the amount of pressure to apply on the pedal and the keys, where to emphasis, how fast or slow to play at various stages of a music piece, the rhythm and even your mood and breathing.
Swimming may not take as long as learning to play the piano. You learn how to float, the different swimming styles, how to tilt your arms at the right angle, how to repeat the strokes, how to breath and how to handle leg cramps, etc. You will start by demonstrating a few strokes for a short distance and go a lbit longer and longer until you get the hang of how your whole body coordinate. But if you have a fear of water, then it may takes a long while.
I remember when I was young, my parents were too poor to be able to afford to send me for piano, swimming and cycling lessons.
Learning piano is a luxury reserved only for the rich kids. Swimming wasn't so common in the past as there were few public pools. The only time I got to dip in water was at the beach and that itself was rare. I didn't even own a bicycle but somehow I managed to learn how to ride one.
My childhood was spent at playground and playing badminton and table tennis, which were rather inexpensive sports and popular then.
I learned to cycle through my neighbor who's family was better off.
He would cycle until he got bored of it and then I got the chance to ride on it.
I couldn't remember how I actually learned cycling. Perhaps like all other kids, we started by learning to ride on a four wheeled bicycle which is more stable and steady. As we proceed to two wheeler, we started off by using our legs to move the bicycle as we sat on it. And we put one leg on the pedal and started cycling on one side while the other leg still firmly on the ground. Then with someone holding to the back of the bicycle to make sure it doesn't shake too violently, I took the leap and have both my legs on the pedals and trying to pedal while controlling my shaking hands to stable the front wheel.
Before I finished one full pedal, my legs were already on the ground. The second time I tried, I managed to complete two full pedals and the distance got longer while I kept asking my friend not to let go of the bicycle. And when I realized that I'm cycling, I turned back and found out nobody is behind holding my bike. When that happened, I fell. But that alone had given me confidence that I could cycle now.
With my newly acquired skill, I would go cycling with my neighbors round the estate before handing it to the other kids to repeat the whole process. This is a daily routine for as long as I could remember.
I've also got into many accidents as well. Running into railing and hurt my fingers, colliding with other cyclists, falling from the bicycle that's out of control or losing my balance and having bruises and bloods all over.
I learned how to swim without learning from a coach.
I would go to the pool and watch how others swim or strategically positioned myself near to swimming instructors teaching other kids and study what he taught. Then i would try out the strokes starting by swimming from breadth to breadth before I could finally swim a full length.
And this is what baffled me.
Cycling is a skill which can be learned easily. Why would anyone wants to spend up to $200 to take cycling lessons. If you are interested and not afraid to suffer some bruises along the way, you can easily learn how to cycle in one afternoon.
As our society advances and people get richer, have they become lazier or too afraid to fall?
Maybe they find value in such course.
We are all different, after all.
The cycling schools should seriously consider giving out certificate of attendance, certificate of completion and a certificate of cycling test.