SENIORS: Are You Struggling to Ride a Bike Again? Fear May be Holding You Back from Riding

Seniors, are you struggling to ride a bike again? Fear may be holding you back.

Hey, everyone, I'm Dustin. I have nearly 20 years of experience in the bike and e-bike industry, and today, we're going to talk about seniors. Are you struggling to ride a bike again? It could be fear that's holding you back. If you are in the market for an e-bike and you do feel comfortable, this is a great option for senior riders with a very low step-through.

Okay, I've done thousands of rides with senior riders, a lot of riders getting back into cycling for the first time in 30, 40 years a lot of times, and I've had a lot of riders unsuccessfully take a ride again. There are many factors that play into it, but a couple of the reasons are, number one, leg strength, number two, the inability to balance anymore, and number three, fear. And I'm going to explain that here in a second. Now, what I see is a lot of people jump straight back into wanting to get an e-bike, or a bike again, and they come straight to us to look at them without having even see if they can still ride a bike. Now, when they get back on, the first thing they think is, "Okay, I can't balance." Then they think, "My legs are not strong enough. I need to build my leg strength." So all these things are going on at once.

I think the one thing that gets overlooked is the fear. If you haven't ridden a bike for 20, 30, or 40 years, back then when we're all young, our level of fear is very low. We don't fear anything. We think we can conquer the world. We're not afraid of breaking bones or getting hurt. And as we get older, those thoughts start to creep in a little bit more than, "Wow, I could really fall right now or I could get hurt right now." And it starts to inhibit us from doing things that maybe we once did. And again, if you're off a bike for 30 years, the last time you rode was maybe in your 40s or 30s, now you're 60, 65, 70. It's a very justified thought to think, "I can get hurt right now." It's protecting us. Our fear, a lot of times, is our brains telling us, "Hey, we need to be careful here. We need to make sure we're doing all the right things."

Now, it's always a slippery slope with how we treat fear and the relationship with fear because in some situations, fear is just a voice in our head preventing us from doing things, but other times, it's a real voice in our heads with a real logical fear saying, "No, yes, this is dangerous." And deciphering between those two things can be challenging at times. But bicycling, and riding e-bikes, can be dangerous if not properly executed. And it's true, it's real, you can fall off a bike or an e-bike and you can break bones. So, having that fear as a senior getting back into riding is a justified thought. But what I see is a lot of riders when they can't ride a two-wheel bike again like they used to, their first thought is, "Oh, it's got to be the bike."

Then they move to, "My legs aren't strong enough, I'm going to strengthen my legs. And then after that, I'll come back." Then sometimes it's also a balance issue, but I think at the crux of all of these things is also fear. And what I see is a lot of people get on and they start to move and they freak out a little bit, so they put their feet down immediately. They don't give themselves that chance to pick their feet up, balance, and start riding because they start to feel themselves move a little bit, they pick their feet up, and they're very concerned. So, you have to allow yourself a little bit of time to balance, and then at that point, pick your feet up and just go. Now, I'm not advocating that you necessarily do that because if you're not comfortable, by all means, don't.

But if you don't pick your feet up and just start going and pedaling, you can't get the bike to balance. It's like the first time when you teach a son or a daughter when they're 5, 6, 7 years old and they have it and you're like, "You're so close, you're so close. Just pick your feet up and go for it." Overcoming that last little bit of just pedaling and going for it is the challenge because a lot of those children can ride a bike, they can already do it, but are they okay picking up their feet and just going for it? And once they do, a lot of times, they get it. Now, I'm not saying that every senior getting back into riding, as soon as they pick their feet up, they're just going to pick their feet up and go, and it's going to be magic and they're going to have it, but if you've been off a bike for 30 years, it's like we're rewinding to when we're 5, 6, 7 years old and relearning.

And that fear, as I said, there's the training, there's the leg strength, there's building all of those things, but there's also overcoming that last bit of fear to pick your legs up and just go for it. Now, I can't tell anybody. If it's their decision to stare that fear in their face, especially when you get to be a little bit older, that's a decision you have to make for yourself. Quite honestly, if you just decide it's too dangerous for you to do it, that's great. There are also other options like three-wheel bikes where you can be more balanced and the risk of falling over and crashing is substantially lower than it is on a two-wheel bike. But what I just want people to recognize or be aware of is that there is that fear, and that's okay. And it's up to you to decide if you want to overcome that or not, but just don't be convinced that it's leg strength or a balance issue as well because I think then you may focus on the wrong things if you are going to try to get yourself ready to ride a two-wheel bike.

Now, again, you've got to look at all three things in unison. You've got to look at leg strength, you've got to look at balance, and you've got to look at fear. And when you can work on your leg strength, get your balance back, and then maybe at that point, you're ready to overcome your fear. Whatever it takes for you to build your confidence is fine as well. And again, maybe the fear isn't the number one thing for you, but I do see it a lot. Now, the other thing I will say is there are ways to start to overcome that, right? Just get comfortable back on a bike. Just get comfortable balancing. Work your way into it, baby steps. If that fear is there the first time you get back on a bike, don't be discouraged by it because a lot of riders over the age of 60 getting back into riding have this expectation.

And I know there's that saying out there that says, "It's just like riding a bike." But being off a bike for 30, 40 years, there's a lot of muscle memory lost in that amount of time. If we're talking about a couple of years, even five years, it's a little bit different to call on your muscle memory to remember how to ride a bike a little bit differently when it's been 30 years, 20 years, things like that. So, don't give up on yourself, and don't have the expectation that it's going to magically happen. The degree of variance between riders and who can jump back in and who takes a little bit of time is vast. But I'll tell you what, once you get comfortable and back up, everyone ends up being about equal, right? It's like just because you started riding a bike at five years old doesn't mean if you start at seven, the person who started at five is going to be better than the 7-year-old.

So give yourself grace, be willing to be patient if you do want to be on a two-wheel bike, and just acknowledge that you have to overcome that fear. And that's the final step to getting up on two wheels again, so you can enjoy the experience of cycling once again. Now, if you have any other questions please email us at theteam@sixthreezero.com or call us at (310) 982-2877. In addition to that, if you're out there looking for a bike or e-bike to get back into riding now, and you want something easy to mount and dismount and safe, you can check out this e-bike or go to our website and take our proprietary body fit quiz. You'll answer a few questions about your body and your life, and we'll recommend the perfect bike, e-bike, or trike that's right for you. And we have a 30-day test ride on your bike, e-bike, or trike policy.

If you don't love it in the first 30 days, send it back, no questions asked, no money out of your pocket. And we're also going to warranty everything for the first year. If anything goes wrong in the first year, we'll take care of it, no questions asked. Lastly, we have a Facebook group with thousands of members. Pop into the group and join. You can ask other riders who may be going through the same thing as you, about their experience, get their feedback, and see what bikes they like in advance of your purchase. Then once you have your bike, post in the group, and make friends, it's tons of fun. You can also download our app from the iOS or the Play Store and track your rides and compete on the leaderboard, which is a ton of fun. So thanks for sticking around. And don't forget, it's your journey or experience. Enjoy the rides.