Like Riding a Bike: On Learning as an Adult

By Alison Wellner

You’re legally allowed to vote, you can order a drink at any bar in the United States, you may even have a gray hair or two.

And yet, there’s one thing that you still don’t know how to do, and it’s something that it seems every eight year-old around you has mastered: you don’t know how to ride a bike.

You’re not alone! In (Like) Riding a Bike, a short booklet, learn how one 34 year-old woman decided, one and for all, to transform that two-wheeled mystery machine into a viable mode of transportation. Explore the psychology and physiology of learning a new physical skill as an adult, and start your own bicycling journey with a collection of resources specifically tailored to the adult learner.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Alison Wellner
• Release date: Mar 18, 2011

Alison Wellner

Alison Stein Wellner is an award-winning writer and essayist. She’s the culinary travel editor for the New York Times-owned About.com, writes a weekly essay on travel and culture for Perceptive Travel, a member of the USA Today Travel Alliance. Wellner’s story “The Heat Seeker”, which originally appeared in The Travel Channel’s World Hum, was anthologized in Best Women’s Travel Writing 2010 (Traveler’s Tales). The anthology won a gold medal in the travel essay division of the Independent Publisher Book Awards. Wellner’s work has appeared in American Archaeology, The Atlantic Monthly’s Food Channel, Business Traveler, BusinessWeek, The Chicago Tribune, The Christian Science Monitor, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, Continental, Fast Company, Glamour, Huffington Post, Ladies’ Home Journal, Luxist, Men's Journal, Money, Mother Jones, New York Magazine, Psychology Today, Reason, Robb Report, Sierra Magazine, The Street.com, The Toronto Star, US Air magazine, The Washington Post, World Hum (The Travel Channel), Working Mother, Yankee, Yoga Journal, among other places. She’s been a contributing editor at Inc. magazine, editor-at-large at American Demographics magazine, a New York Times Professional Fellow and a National Press Foundation Fellow. Her articles have won awards from the American Society of Journalists and Authors and the American Society of Business Press Editors. She’s the author of Americans at Play, which is about trends in outdoor recreation and travel (New Strategist 1997) and Best of Health, which is about trends in health. (New Strategist, 2000). She’s a member of the Society of American Travel Writers. She divides her time between Manhattan and New York’s Hudson Valley.

Book preview

(Like) Riding a Bike

On Learning as an Adult

By Alison Stein Wellner

Smashwords Edition

Published by Curious World Books

http://www.curiousworldbooks.com

Copyright 2011 Alison Stein Wellner. All Rights Reserved.

Smashwords Licensing note: This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Publisher's Note: This book is not intended to be a substitute for advice of a qualified professional instructor or psychologist. Neither the author nor the publisher shall be responsible for any loss, damage or injury allegedly arising from the use of any information contained in this book.

Born to Be Wild

Three months before my 34th birthday, I decided it was time. I was tired of making excuses and telling face-saving lies whenever I was confronted with that two-wheeled mystery machine called a bicycle. I no longer wanted to miss out on riding with my friends and family. Enough was enough. I would finally learn how to ride a bike.

Under a cornflower blue sky,