Learning to ride a bike in a big city is not ideal

NEW YORK (FOX 5 NEWS) - The phrase "it's like riding a bike" refers to how naturally something you haven't done in a while comes back to you but learning to ride a bike is not natural at all.

"I would say 30 percent of what we do is cycology and 70 percent is psychology," said Steven Finkelstein, the owner of Professor Pedals. "The first one being C-Y-C-O and second one being the P-S-Y, psychology."

Finkelstein's Long Island-based company teaches people with no skills to ride a bike. His students are kids and adults. But on this day, his student was Chase, a Fox 5 intern.

Finkelstein said learning to ride a bike in a quiet area like a park or playground in the suburbs is much safer for kids. Here kids can avoid embarrassment and distractions, but learning to ride a bike in the city is a completely different story.

"City training and city riding, personally, I'm scared and nervous to ride in the city," he said. "I'm not comfortable riding in and amongst traffic. I leave that to the messengers. It's not really for me."

Finkelstein said learning to ride a bike requires a lot of focus, which is a difficult task when riding down busy Manhattan streets. But if you have to learn to ride in the city, you should try and stick to quiet bike paths, preferably ones that are protected from traffic.

"I think that's the best advice," Finkelstein said. "Stay in a closed bike path area when you're riding in city environments."