How to get your friends to start riding to work

I forgot how scary it can be to cycle in Sydney until I started riding with my best mate 2 weeks ago. This girl who has been terrified of bikes all her life, finally had the courage to cycle into work and asked me if I could help her. That's what it took. Someone to physically lead the way and show her how to ride, where to ride, tell her if she was doing alright, help her get confident.

So the challenge we had was to ride to work. 
Distance to work: 4.2 kms
Route: There's a dedicated cycleway about 500 metres from her house, the challenge is to get there without freaking her out. 


Things I learnt about helping someone to ride:

1. Choose a super quiet easy route
2. Try to stay calm and be patient, you don't want to freak your already nervous friend
3. Pace yourself, they won't be as fast as you are, keep checking the pace
4. Give constant positive feedback, you want to get them more confident
5. Give small reminders about brakes, being ready, signalling
6. Give pointers about pedalling, gears, changing gears
7. Make suggestions like seat height adjustments, lights
8. Be overly cautious and extra safe, they need to feel safe to gain confidence

Other things that can help:

• Cycling in the city course from Sydney Cycleways was super helpful for me when I learnt to cycle in Sydney. Helped me with indicating, how to look behind me, how to be more aware
• Read maps and know the route before leaving, google maps, Sydney City maps
• MapMyRide's route mapper is super useful when creating new routes
• Bike buddies - finding buddies to help you start riding