At age 6, Stephanie Yeh was riding a bike with training wheels near her North Carolina home when she suddenly careened down a hill. She squeezed the brakes, flew over her handlebars and landed facedown on the street, narrowly missing a passing car.<\/p>\n
Deeply shaken, she didn\u2019t touch a bike for more than 30 years.<\/p>\n
On a recent Sunday, Ms. Yeh, now in her late 30s, was standing anxiously in a circle of about 15 adults between the dog run and the tennis courts in McCarren Park, on the Williamsburg-Greenpoint border in Brooklyn.<\/p>\n
It happened to be Mother\u2019s Day, and another attendee, Rimu Byadya, a mother of two, said she woke up that morning and decided, \u201cI\u2019m going to give myself a gift: falling off a bike.\u201d<\/p>\n
She, Ms. Yeh and the rest of the group were about to take a free \u201cLearn to Ride<\/a>\u201d class run by the nonprofit Bike New York<\/a>. Helmets strapped securely to their heads, they stared apprehensively at the row of bikes in front of them.<\/p>\n When Ms. Byadya, 35, told the circle that both her husband and a colleague had \u201csuccessfully failed\u201d at teaching her how to ride, the whole group gave a knowing laugh.<\/p>\n As New York has increasingly<\/a> become a biking city<\/a>, adult New Yorkers are turning to Bike New York classes, as well as private instruction, to master a skill that many adults don\u2019t even remember learning. With Citi Bikes on every corner and frequent public transportation delays, many of these students look at cyclists longingly, wishing for the freedom of two wheels. But most are embarrassed to lack such a basic skill and daunted by the prospect of acquiring it.<\/p>\n Not being able to ride \u201cis one of the biggest failures that I\u2019ve probably faced as an adult,\u201d Iroda Kayumova, 39, said. She learned with Bike New York last year and is now training for a triathlon.<\/p>\n To help adults overcome that stigma, Bike New York\u2019s classes provide a low barrier to entry: The classes are free, bicycles and helmets are provided, and the instructors and volunteers are committed to helping as many students as possible go from never having put their foot on a pedal to riding by the end of each two-hour class.<\/p>\n At McCarren Park, as students chose bikes that fit their height, they discovered that there were no pedals. An instructor, Tarah Monn, explained that the first step to learning was to simply sit on the bike and walk it forward. So the students cautiously put one foot in front of the other and wobbled in a loop around a line of colored cones.<\/p>\n As Mauricio Aceves, 59, got on his bike for the first time, he said he felt less nervous seeing other adults in his same situation. Growing up in Mexico City, he \u201cwould tell Santa Claus to bring me a bike,\u201d he said, but he never got one. Now, he\u2019s learning as a gift to his wife and 8-year-old son, who want to ride as a family.<\/p>\n Once enough people seemed comfortable walking their bikes, Ms. Monn encouraged them to approach the most difficult part of the day: pushing both feet off the ground to balance into a glide. \u201cStrong pushes!\u201d Ms. Monn yelled. \u201cThe faster the bike goes, the easier it is,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n Ms. Byadya, who grew up in Bangladesh, where girls weren\u2019t encouraged to ride, said it felt like a liberating exercise in \u201cletting things go.\u201d Once students started getting the hang of it, they bent their knees, feet dangling behind them as they glided for seconds at a time.<\/p>\n \u201cI see balancing!\u201d Ms. Monn said joyously.<\/p>\n Notably, a majority of adults seeking bike riding lessons in New York City are women. Chantal Hardy, the associate director of education at Bike New York, called this discrepancy the \u201cfender gap.\u201d She hypothesized that women were less likely to have been encouraged to participate in risky activities as children. \u201cI also wonder if women are more open to seeking help,\u201d she said, and to \u201chaving a group experience.\u201d<\/p>\n