If you didn't learn to ride a bike as a child

[bigbluebus]

Why was that? My question sprung to mind when watching BBC Breakfast's piece on the Children in Need Rickshaw challenge this morning where the young lady riding the rickshaw today said she'd never ridden a bike.

I've come across 2 friends/acquaintances in my life who have admitted they can't ride a bike but I didn't question the reason why. So if this is you, disabilities aside, why do you think you never learned to ride a bike?

You aren't too old.

There are groups around the UK that teach refugee women, and the women are all different ages.

The only thing that would stop you is mobility issues.

How is it lazy parenting? Riding a bike and swimming are not the essential life skills much of MN would lead you to believe. Some kids just aren't interested, like I wasn't. And I'm still not really now.

I cannot swim and cannot ride a bike. Yet I have someone managed to make it my 40s, obtained a degree, learned to drive, got married and had two children. I work and am a fully functioning adult. I've even managed to teach my kids how to ride a bike and teach them how to swim.

I was a very indoors-y kid and just never had any interest in riding a bike

That's interesting @ILIWYS . Which decade were you born in? I don't really remember indoorsy children when I was a child (or maybe they were just all indoors out of sight 😂). I was born in the 1960's and we all seemed to have a very outdoor childhood.

I coach cycling, so obviously I did learn, but over the years I have met quite a lot of adult learners or kids who are learning later than usual and there's a plethora of reasons. Off the top of my head things I've been told include:
Parents couldn't do it/weren't interested/never saw the need
Lived somewhere with lack of safe places to ride
Couldn't afford a bike
Parental mental or physical health issues
Child having health issues
Not picking it up quickly so getting made fun of hence then avoiding it
Just not being interested when younger
Having an accident whilst learning that put them off
Having time consuming other hobbies so never having time
I'm sure there are many others too, just like there are with lots of things.I never really got to grips with swimming.
I would say though that it's never to late to learn .

Because I am probably a bit dyspraxic and my ASD wasn't diagnosed.

My parents loved cycling and were great and supportive teachers.

Despite their best efforts, I never got the stabilisers off and didn't enjoy it enough to persist.

I had a boyfriend years ago who had never learnt to ride a bike because his parents said it was too dangerous. They didn’t encourage him to learn to drive either.

Both of my siblings owned and rode bikes, I neither owned or rode one because I wasn't interested. Not sure how that equates with my parents being lazy.

Ok @bigbluebus but I have had quite a few people clearly surprised and puzzled that I never learned as a kid.

My mum learnt in about an hour when she was in her mid- thirties so there’s always hope.