The beginner usually exerts too much pressure on the pedals, and has to pull correspondingly hard on the handles to correct the falling tendency of the machine. This is very hard work, and stiff arms and shoulders and blistered hands may be often thus accounted for; they are the result of badly balanced pedaling. To be able to sit comfortably at work, and to feel that it is not so hard after all, is a great advance.
Now, the question of that other foot. By this time which “the other foot” is will have become quite evident; it is always the foot to which attention for the moment is not directed, and which consequently may meet unexpected disaster—a lost pedal, perhaps, with its accompanying inconveniences.
Downward pressure with the foot is easily acquired and needs little effort. To take the pressure off the ascending pedal at the right moment is a more difficult matter. Usually considerable practice in cycling is necessary before the unused lifting muscles are strengthened sufficiently by exercise to permit them to do their work easily.
There is a third movement of the handle-bars—a quick twist in the direction the machine is leaning if about to fall; it is made suddenly, and brings the wheel back to its original position. If the wheel were stationary, and the front wheel were turned, the bicycle would fall in an opposite direction from the front wheel. If the wheel is about to fall, it can be prevented from doing so by throwing the balance the other way by means of the handle-bars. A similar result is accomplished by wiggling the front wheel, and when a bicycle is moving very slowly, a continuous wiggle—changing the balance as the machine inclines from side to side—is necessary to keep it upright.
The body should incline with the rear wheel and maintain the same plane with it, becoming as much as possible a part of the wheel, as though united by a straight bar going from the base of the tire to the top of the head.
The rear wheel and all the weight that it carries is governed by the front wheel and controlled by means of the handle-bars. The rear wheel supporting all the rider’s weight, the power is applied to that wheel. The front wheel serves only for balance and steering.
It is not necessary to provide a complete outfit to take the first lesson. If you possess a pair of knickerbockers, so much the better. Wear an old dress, easy shoes and gloves, and a hat that will stay on under any conditions. The clothing should be as loose as possible about the waist. Wear flannels, and no tight bands of any kind or anything elastic. As respiration is increased by the exercise, the clothing should be loose enough to allow of a long deep breath, drawn easily, taken by expanding the chest at the lower ribs to fill the lungs. This precaution being taken, giddiness and short-windedness can result only from over-exercise. Ten or fifteen minutes’ practise is enough at first; and a half hour’s lesson later, with several stops for rest, is the best rule for many people, particularly those unaccustomed to active exercise.
If you are an equestrian, you will meet with many unexpected problems. The bicycle will do nothing for you, and the lack of horse-sense must be supplied by your own intelligence. It is well, when learning, to remove all bicycle accessories. They are only in the way, and add weight and distract the attention. The propelling of the bicycle—that is the one idea to keep in mind. Make the machine go; shove it along. Never mind if you are not quite comfortable or at ease at first. Sit on your saddle and stay there. Do not try to balance the machine. Lean the way the machine inclines, not away from it, as it will be your first impulse to do. The bicycle is not to be fought against; it is to be propelled and controlled; and the art is not difficult to acquire.
Avoid starting a bicycle on a down grade when you are learning. For on a slight, even an almost imperceptible incline, the cycler must back-pedal; but the beginner wishes to propel the bicycle, and for that purpose must use an altogether different muscular combination.