Cycling Proficiency

[ebikeerwidnes]

My Dad insisted I did the Cycling Proficiency Test before he would let me go out on roads on my new bike

I did it OK - don't remember much except for having to ride between 2 white tapes - about the same distance apart as double yellow lines 0 if you touched a bit if the tape you had to start again


Anyway


I DON'T THINK I GOT MY BADGE!!!!!!!

I demand compensation

I did find the certificate when I cleared out my parent's house about 10 years ago - but I'm pretty sure I never saw a badge

who do I complain to??????

 

[Toshiba Boy]

I got the lower triangular one... when I was 9.

Same here.

 

[smokeysmoo]

I did mine around 1979/80 but don't recall getting anything for my trouble.

 

[MontyVeda]

'77 or '78 for me.

I can't remember learning to ride a bike, my dad taught us when we were very young... so being given L plates to put on my bike was a bit weird. I enjoyed the mock road markings on the school playground though. I think there were also traffic lights too. I felt incredibly proud when I could finally remove the L plates and got a badge. Don't recall the certificate but there probably was one. I suppose it did teach me a bit of responsibility on the roads, such as looking out for other roads users and signalling... before that we were just feral kids with bikes, the road (and pavements) were just a playground.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

I remember that one of the skills we needed to master was parking the bike against a kerb

You had to have the left pedal slightly behind vertical so that when you leaned the bike slightly left the pedal rested on the kerb with the bike nearly vertical

not difficult to do

but bleedi' useless as the bike is VERY unstable so the first lorry or bus that passes and the draft will knock the bike over - half on the road and half on the pavement

WHen I worked at a Primary School they did Bikeability - that particular skill didin't seem to be on the curriculum any more

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

Taking a double physics lesson to wire a plug, and still not have finished when the bell went.

Not me, might I add. I know what a potato masher is for, and I did the plug in less than five minutes.

I should hope so, you don't want to let the side down do you! I'm always impressed by those ladies who take an interest in doing traditional "mens" stuff like spannering on motors and DIY-ing - and turn out to be really good at it too. Sadly rare though.

 

[Lovacott]

I remember that one of the skills we needed to master was parking the bike against a kerb
You had to have the left pedal slightly behind vertical so that when you leaned the bike slightly left the pedal rested on the kerb with the bike nearly vertical.

It's how I park my bike all of the time. It's like having a side stand for free.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

It's how I park my bike all of the time. It's like having a side stand for free.

I used to do the same as a youngster, and seem to remember that method of parking being shown to me. It's no more unstable than a basic one-leg kickstand with zero weight penalty, but you rarely have the safe kerb space to do it in urban areas. Any bike so left would soon get knocked over either by a vehicle or some clumsy oaf of a pedestrian who is too busy staring at their mobile phone to look where they are going.

 

[BoldonLad]

I should hope so, you don't want to let the side down do you! I'm always impressed by those ladies who take an interest in doing traditional "mens" stuff like spannering on motors and DIY-ing - and turn out to be really good at it too. Sadly rare though.

Second youngest daughter is like that. Her first car (a battered Fiesta), headlamp bulb failed. I changed it, she watched, next one failed, she did it herself. Does all the DIY in her (well their, she has a husband), house.

 

[Reynard]

I should hope so, you don't want to let the side down do you! I'm always impressed by those ladies who take an interest in doing traditional "mens" stuff like spannering on motors and DIY-ing - and turn out to be really good at it too. Sadly rare though.

When there's no handy bloke onto which to delegate such operations, a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. Doing mortar or plaster is a lot like icing a cake. Although one is edible and the other is... indigestible.

Having said that, I've always tinkered with stuff. IMHO, competence in tasks should have nothing to do with gender.

 

[Lovacott]

Second youngest daughter is like that. Her first car (a battered Fiesta), headlamp bulb failed. I changed it, she watched, next one failed, she did it herself. Does all the DIY in her (well their, she has a husband), house.

I once went out with a girl who thought that a tap washer was a machine used to wash taps.

She had nice legs though.

 

[Brummie53]

My memories are a bit vague but I remember riding around the cones in our primary school playground ( left primary school in 1967) but also remember going onto the local side roads and pulling up at a T unction and turning right under the watchful eye of a policeman! I must have passed as I had a certificate like the one cycleops posted and I seem to remember the triangle badge. Not a clue where either of them might be, but I’ll have to have a look. Would it be good to do it again ? Maybe but the people who would go for it are people who generally want to cycle safely, while the ones who wouldn’t take it up are those who fly along the pavements at speed and take their lives in their hands flying across junctions. Sweeping generalisation I know but that’s how it seems to be. Fortunately they are the in the minority of cyclists.

 

[snorri]

And High Viz tabards... 👍🏼

Yes, and don't mention the H word

 

[MichaelW2]

I keep my triangular badge in a tin along with various awards for bravery inc Italian Ski School ( very basic level) and Tufty Club.

 

[Lovacott]

I keep my triangular badge in a tin along with various awards for bravery inc Italian Ski School ( very basic level) and Tufty Club.

I entered a "best black pudding" contest back in the 1990's and I've still got the enamelled badge I was awarded for getting sixth place (out of ten).