Experiences of Cycle Training

Paul is great. His company Cycling Instructor covers Southwark and other parts of South London and they've done loads for Southwark Cyclists over the years. Do give them feedback wont you.

My 9-year old son had a cycle lesson on Saturday, with a trainer called Paul who we found though the Southwark Council scheme. The lesson was really good, well worthwhile.

My son is used to riding on the road, but mainly on weekend-end mornings when it's quieter, and mainly on back streets. Paul showed him a bunch of techniques and explained them more precisely and with more impact than I'd managed. He seems to be an excellent cycle trainer

My only quibble is that you need to ride fairly quickly to execute some of the techniques (like pulling out, taking the lane, and turning right) and that the techniques, while technically correct, rely on drivers not just ploughing through you. This is riskier for kids because they're lower down and not as easy to see, and they are not as fast when pulling a complex maneuver. Sometimes you get these idiot drivers and you kind of know you’re better off getting out the way. It’s not technically correct, and you probably can’t teach it, but if you want to live, sometimes you have to back down.

To be fair, a lot of drivers are really good when they see kids on bikes on the street. Probably 70% of them.

I leant quite a bit too from the lesson. It sounded like there’s a hierarchy of levels, so I might get some lessons myself

Like at 36x18 said, it was a cold day for it on Saturday. Quite a bit of a kid’s lesson is low activity (listening, trying emergency stops, etc), so take gloves and wrap-up warm.