How to Learn Riding a Bike

How many of you started with those little wheel attached to the rear of your bike when you were a kid? I know a handful. Question is, is that an effective way of teaching the kids how to ride a bike? For me, No. Yes you read it right. I’ll say it clearly it is not a n effective way of teaching kids how to ride a bike. First thing you need to teach a kid is balancing on a bike and not pedalling. He needs to get his balance first, he needs to to learn how to keep him and his bike upright. I learned to ride my bike pretty much on my own. This is a bit embarrassing since I’m already in 6th grade and still learning to ride a bike. I borrowed a bike from my friends younger brother, Jason, he is also technically a friend. I first practiced on their garage(they have 4 jeepneys that can fit in to that garage.) I started off by sitting on the saddle and pushing off with my feet while and lifting my feet off the ground when it’s fast enough. Such a thrill. But that’s how I started. Then one afternoon while practising, Jason (the guy who owned the bike) and his friend MJ said why not try it on the street, we’ll watch you, we promise we will not laugh if you fall. they coached me saying, you just keep pedalling and turn your bike where you think your falling. So off we go, I kept pedalling and wobbling turning the handle bars to the direction where I feel like I’m falling, they cheered and shouted keep pedalling, faster, faster until we reached the end of the street. They helped my make a u-turn and did the same thing again and again for the whole afternoon. We were all excited and happy we laughed and exchanged high-fives. The 2 guys feel really accomplished. So that’s how we supposed to do it. Another case, my nephew Sam. He wants to learn to ride a bike. So they bought him a bike, tried teaching him using those little trainer wheels. No go. He will just stop pedalling because he feel he will fall. So his grandpa Papa Fred, removed the trainer wheels and decided he will teach him by just pushing him and helping with balance. Still no go. He then removed the cranks and chain, he made it a balance bike. Within few days Sam learned to balance and within that week learned to ride his bike. So there you have it. If you want to teach you kids how to ride a bike, get him/her a balance bike.

How I started riding my bike

I’m Jake Alvarez, I am a father, a husband, I am a graphic designer and a photographer. I bike to work Mondays to Fridays. I’m not good at riding bikes when I decided to ride my bike to work. In fact, I have very little experience in riding a bike. It is very evident, you will notice it when you ride with me, there are still parts of the road where I’m have difficulty in navigating. I learned to ride my bike when I was in 6th grade. My friends younger brother Jason lend me his bike and I practiced in their long garage (they have 4 jeepneys that fit in that garage.) I started by just pushing the bike with my feet, fast enough that the bike would roll and I can lift my feet of the ground. Then one day Jason (who owned the bike ) and his friend MJ said why not try it out on the street, we’ll watch you. They said they would not laugh if I fall. So off we go. They were excited as I rode off pedaling the bike, they cheering me on up until the end of the street. I did not fall that day. But the joy and happiness and the big smiles on our faces that day. The 2 little guys felt so accomplished. More in this in the next post. Up to this day I still can’t do any tricks, like wheelies, I can’t even take my hands of the bars. It’s just that I want to ride a bike going to work and far away places occasionally. I’ll also write more about why I decided to ride my bike to work and what inspired me to ride a bike going to far away places. Stay tuned.

Runners in BGC

Early in the morning of May 17, 2014, I saw some runners as I was headed home from my Friday night shift. I’ve always been wanting to run or jog, get fit and healthy but time is a bit scarce. I think the same is true for most of us. I was surpised to see this number of runners or joggers even without an organized marathon. Most of them are running alone though a few have running buddies.

People are running for different reasons. But all with the same goal getting fit. Some run in place. Some are very serious about it, maybe for a greater purpose like running a marathon or gunning for ironman. Running is a lifestyle. It requires commitment and inspiration. Why are they running? Let's find out.

 This is Pia Corpuz she said she is running just to sweat it out. I saw her running there is no sign that she was having difficulty running at all. I think she was just having fun.

This is Merlyn Orolfo 61 years old. I saw her running with her husband. She said she was running for fitness, because when you getting old you need to be fit.  I think running makes you look younger.

Harley Reyes 15 years old and he is a basketball varsity, he said he runs to increase stamina. He is running with his friends.

Dandy 32, he runs for fitness as well, he runs here at BGC during weekends or during his free time. His office is at Eco Tower too. He said he also runs in organized marathons.

Rj Ortile 30, runs for fitness and health, he regularly goes to the gym as well. 

As I walked away from Track 30^th, I saw some more people running. Some have groups, some are really very serious about it as they are enrolled in classes where they get to have a trainer monitoring their progress. I hope I can find time and summon enough energy to do some running as well. I’m not getting any younger too so It’s high time for me to get fit. It’s not too late you can start running as well. For now I’ll be happy with brisk walking from Eco tower in 9^th corner 32^nd street up to Edsa Ayala, that’s about 3kms, not bad.

This is far from over. I will continue to take photos of runners in BGC in the coming days, so stay tuned. I plan to take photos of non-runners as well like skaters, bikers, or whatever they are doing to get fit and happy. I hope you had fun as I did taking their photos. I also hope you get inspired to run and get fit. It doesn't matter what other people are thinking about you. Don't let them hold you back. 

Just leave it alone

Some people might think I'm lazy or something, but I always live by this saying;

"If it ain't broken, don't fix it"

Because no matter how much effort you put in fixing things that are not broken, your still not fixing anything. Because it is not broken, and not broken things doesn't need fixing.  If you do, you might get a good chance of messing things up. So, just leave it alone.  If you want to be busy but can't think of anything to do, do something else, don't go around fixing things that are not broken, because(In case I haven't stressed this enough)they don't need fixing, because they are not broken.  Go walk your dog, or your neighbors dog (if you don't have a dog) or just go walk yourself. Take the garbage out, or if you done you might want to take somebody else's garbage out. You can try googling useless facts instead, It can be fun and safe. Read a magazine, if your done, go read it again you might have missed something. Ok? just don't fix things that are not broken, it's totally insignificant. You might think it's productive, but no it's not.

Cigarettes not sold to minors

I believe that we have a law here in the Philippines against selling cigarettes to minors. Now, what happens if the minors are the ones selling the cigarettes?  I don't know.  (I don't smoke, and I don't have anything against smokers as long as they keep it away from me.) Well, I just happen to see a bunch of minors selling cigarettes in the streets of Ortigas Center, Pasig City.  I think people (particularly the ones patronizing the product) should know that if selling cigarettes to minors is against the law then so is buying from them.  It is clear that somebody sold cigarettes to these kids, or somebody gave it them, which is more kind of unlikely.  If people would not buy cigarettes from these kids(minors selling cigarettes) maybe they'll get discouraged and eventually stop selling them. I hope somebody will do something about this.  

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