Places to Learn

A gym or indoor area with a smooth wooden floor and a hand rail about elbow height. A tennis court or outdoor concrete path that is swept free of small stones and has no bumps or cracks. A firm rail or fence is helpful. A narrow corridor allows you to hang on to both walls. Work your way along and back, trying to hold on less and less each time. Start between two chairs placed back to back in front of a wide open space. Get your balance then launch into space

Get two friends to hold you up, or get between a friend and a wall. The friends should be half a pace in front of you and carry none of your weight. Its cheating if you have your arms around their shoulders!

Finding the ideal teaching space is very hard to do. Firstly it should get a smooth flat surface clear of any obstacles or debris. You should have at least one long clear wall, without any doors or alcoves in it. Ideally the bar should be at chest height. The ideal space is often not available in fact I dont think I have ever seen one. So you are then picking the best space that is available. Here are some of the things to look out for.

Doors - I have seen people hit by doors or fall through them when they put weight on them. In the worst case I have seen someone was using the door itself for support and fell backwards closing the door and then trapped their fingers as they went

Grass - It is not that this is unsafe, just a lot harder to teach on if the wheel is not on a smooth surface.

Carpet - Unless it is very thin it tends to track the wheel and makes it hard to ride on.

Astroturf / Composite Rubber - These can be found on tennis courts, there seams to be no set answer here; sometimes they are great places to learn other times they are nightmare with catching the tyre and tracking like carpets

Flagstones - Check for them being smooth and without large gaps between them.

Tarmac - This can be good to ride on but when people fall they will get scrapes on their knees and hands.

Glass - A lot of modern spaces now have large glass window panels. Avoid!

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