Son of 25 is now learning to ride.
This all started about 6 months ago when I asked him what he was doing for his next holiday, last year he took time off to trek around Peru. He is 3D Graphic Artist for gaming companies and he has a thing for visiting temples/deserted cities etc, as he reckons it gives him inspiration with his designs, plus he just likes doing it.
Anyway, he said he wanted to go to Cambodia to visit Angkor Wat and a few other places. After thinking about it for a bit I mentioned that his Mother and I are going back to Vietnam to finish seeing parts that we missed out on last year.
I suggested I teach him how to ride; we pick up bikes in Cambodia and end up in Vietnam. With bikes you really get to see these out of the way places.
So, he has been coming home every 3 weeks and we spend all weekend riding. He completed 2 hours training with an instructor and aced his Learners License. The instructor was great value, showing him things I had over looked. He is riding a road legal 200 Honda CTX with most of our riding on rough gravel. The Enfield is actually a great bike on these roads also.
As we leave in 6 weeks I am reverting to some unorthodox training methods to help him handle Asian city riding. First is using his horn. In Western countries using the horn is more for “Look Out!” or “Get out of my way!” sort of stuff. In Asian countries it usually just means “Here I am”. With the high number of scooters/bikes/cars etc in the cities there is no way to keep an eye on everybody, hence all the horn honking. There is actually a chaotic reason for all the honking, once you get used to it you realize the honks are letting you know what’s happening around you without actually seeing it. It does work. Sort of.
Next, when both my wife and I are riding with him we start to crowd him, moving in from both sides, using the horn, cutting him off, etc. Sounds crazy but this is just a small sample of how it will be for him until we get out of the city areas.
This weekend we came upon a mob of cattle, probably around 300 or so, going the same way as we were on a rural road. My wife told him to lead us through the herd (its usual practice to work your way through stock on the road) as this will give him some idea of how crowded the streets of Hanoi are going to be.
I agreed. Except the cows need to be running.
In all directions.
I think he is ready. Should be a good family ride.
Topic: Teaching son to ride... (Read 2124 times)