Like Riding a Bike

 

 

Like Riding a Bike               

 

By John W. Vander Velden

 

You have heard the adage…”Just like riding a bike”.  You know things learned that are not forgotten.  Well mostly.  I will not argue that there are things learned on the subconscious level that are so ingrained into our minds that we can trust they remain.  Riding a bike is one of them.  To attack the process of balancing on two wheels logically will result in failure.  Sometimes there are things you just have to learn by doing.

How did you learn to ride a bike?  That’s assuming you did learn.  Not everyone does.  I remember teaching my son and a nephew how to ride.  You know running along side with one hand on the seat the other on the handlebar, huffing out encouragement until my last wind failed.  I also remember failing to teach another nephew using the same process.  You have to want to learn to ride a bike, even be willing to take a tumble in the process.

I was never as strong as my older brother.  He is likely still stronger.  But having an older brother shapes your perspective.  He could ride a bike and…well, I couldn’t…then.  Fact was I had to learn on my own…mostly.  Hints about steering into the lean and keep pedaling were helpful.  But certainly no training wheels were available.  We had a slight grass covered incline on our farm.  Push the bike to the top, line it with a cement block I had placed so I could climb on, make certain the pedal was right, push off pedal and …fall…bang…ouch!

I remember lying in the grass and wondering what I had done wrong.  No time to dwell on that, get up and repeat the process.  I found myself a few yards further down hill.  Hmmmm…I’m improving.  Like I said you have to want to ride bad enough.  My brother could ride and I had something to prove.  I don’t remember how many times over how many days I worked at learning that skill.  But it likely wasn’t many.  I was a kid after all.  But what mattered was that I did learn and I did ride…a lot.  Sorry Mrs. Lambert.  My high school English teacher said that “a lot” was only a place you build a house.  So I rode a great deal and still do.

I don’t think about turning into the lean or anything else.  I just ride my bike.  So what is this post about?  Bike riding?  Sorta’. About wanting to learn a skill? Closer.   About relying upon those things our minds know without our conscious thoughts, like walking and chewing gum?  Could be.

We trust that we can do things even if we haven’t done them in a while…”just like riding a bike”.  That the skill exists waiting for our need.  I expect that is true about a great many things.  But we should go back to when and where we learned these talents in the first place…the why…and the how…and remember the mindset that drove the learning.  Real learning can’t be forced.  Set kids in a classroom and put a book in front of them, demand they read chapter 235, page 85,022 or whatever.  They’ll be a quiz later.  But pass or fail those facts do not find a real home in his mind if that student does not really want them there.   He needs to want to learn it. 

Back to you and me.  When we want to learn a skill or some information we do what it takes to learn it.  We accept the tumbles…the bruises…skinned knees…to gain that skill.  And if we do…if we really do…then even years later that skill or that knowledge will come to us when we need it most…just “like riding a bike”.

I rely upon the things I have learned.  I take many of those talents for granted.  But everyday I get up and walk, and that should remind me that there was a time I couldn’t.  That thousands of times each day I do things small and larger without a thought, thing I have been taught.  And knowing that, I should understand that I’m not done learning…not yet…not ever.  The desire to learn is still in me.  To me it’s part of life and drives me forward.  Not that every lesson is easy…or fun…or painless.  But just like the improbability of rolling along on two wheels did not deter me, for I did learned to ride a bike, and I will continue to learn…today…tomorrow…and as long God gives me breath.

(768 Words)  2-23-2017