A matter of balance...

[compo]

Many years ago I passed my motorcycle test. then along came daughter no 1 so I bought a Reliant three wheeler because I could drive it on my motorcycle licence. The only problem was I could hardly drive in a proper manner. I had lots of routes worked out so I didn't have to turn right across traffic! One day my wife said let's go to see so and so in Basingstoke. We lived in Canning Town at the time. She ignored my protestations of terror at actually driving on roads I didn't know, complex junctions, traffic lights, roundabouts and even the M3 motorway. So off we went. By the time we were in South London I was beginning to enjoy myself, and by the time we got to Basingstoke I would drive anywhere. I had it cracked.

It is the same with cycling and I would say to Swampy grasp it by the balls and just go for it. The longer you avoid facing your fears the harder it will eventually be to overcome them. You have done brilliantly to get this far, now just go over the wall and begin to enjoy yourself on two wheels.

 

[Pat "5mph"]

Swampy, I love your posts!
As others have said, it will all come together with time and practice.
early weekend mornings are good for practice on the roads, go for it.
If at any time you feel overwhelmed, just dismount, take your bike on the pavement, take a breath.
He, he: I've been commuting every day for almost a year now, still don't filter often, still will not have a big vehicle behind me. If I can't let them pass, I will stop on the side of the road till they're well in front of me.

 

[swampyseifer]

OK so it is a resounding agreement that its just a matter of time...

10 hours in a fortnight? thats nigh on impossible. I rarely have the time to go out and when I do I need (i feel I need) someone to be there...which makes the occurences even less often.

Yupp...just reading that back to myself.....I am basically scared of the bike...

 

[Pat "5mph"]

Yupp...just reading that back to myself.....I am basically scared of the bike...

Don't worry, I used to be terrified.
I'm also stubborn, did not give in to the feeling of terrible dread every time I got on the bike.
I'm well over it now, just takes time, really.
After I took a tumble and stopped riding for 2 days, I said to myself "are you stupid or what??"
Don't give in Swampy!

 

[redste]

I got into cycling last year at the age of 38. As I had never done my cycling proficiency at school I decided to look into training courses for adults, think I just googled it. i believe there are 3 levels of training, level 1 is for complete beginers, level 2 was more about riding on a road, safety and postioning on the road and level 3 was more advanced.
I have done the level 2 and that only took a few hours and it gave me a lot more confidence than i would have had otherwise.
A few people laughed at me asking why i needed to learn to ride a bike, but as I said to them, you wouldn't drive a car with learning how to do it proper so why take the risk on a bike!

 

[hoski]

+1 for practice

I used to cycle as a kid, but stopped around 10 and started 8 or 9 years later. When I picked up a bike again I was all over the place - I once road into a wall which I swear was about 6 feet away. I kept at it and now consider myself to have decent bike handling skills and feel confident riding on all sorts of roads and in heavy traffic. And to be honest, I can't really ride in that straight a line. It really is all about practising and in my case it took quite a lot of bike-hours to achieve confidence.

Regarding online bike guides saying 2-3 hours? I doubt many adults can pick up a bike and start zooming around confidently within that timescale. Even having learnt beforehand it took me much, much longer than that to get at all confident. Stick with it and you'll get there! It sounds like you've already made brilliant progress

 

[swampyseifer]

Don't worry, I used to be terrified.
I'm also stubborn, did not give in to the feeling of terrible dread every time I got on the bike.
I'm well over it now, just takes time, really.
After I took a tumble and stopped riding for 2 days, I said to myself "are you stupid or what??"
Don't give in Swampy!

Oh I've taken a few tumbles...I've ridden into trees and kerbs and once made the mistake of continualing to pedal while making a turn turn while going uphil on loose gravel (that one really hurt!)

I will keep on at it! Swampy aint no quitter!

I got into cycling last year at the age of 38. As I had never done my cycling proficiency at school I decided to look into training courses for adults, think I just googled it. i believe there are 3 levels of training, level 1 is for complete beginers, level 2 was more about riding on a road, safety and postioning on the road and level 3 was more advanced.
I have done the level 2 and that only took a few hours and it gave me a lot more confidence than i would have had otherwise.
A few people laughed at me asking why i needed to learn to ride a bike, but as I said to them, you wouldn't drive a car with learning how to do it proper so why take the risk on a bike!

I looked around but couldnt find any council-organised training in my area. There were several private trainers whom would train me. I will be going to him for road training, as you say, it would be crazy to drive a car without knowing what to do...why do it on a bike?