Seeking the help of the Singletrack parent & grandparent hive mind please.
Eldest granddaughter of the Tandemwarriors is 10ys old. She happily rides her bike (Specialized Hotrock 24″ wheels) around the streets and with her friends. She asks to go riding with me and practice wheelies (like I’m any good!) but is terrified whenever she tries anything and won’t try, I think for fear of falling and hurting herself.
Tonight she wanted to ride a couple of gentle rolling ramps barely 2ft high but every time she pedalled up to them she braked & stopped dead.
She’s always struggled with self-confidence, but as she’s asking to ride her bike more I’m keen to encourage her.
Any ideas how we can help her overcome her fears?
Thanks.

Does she have pads (good pads)? Realising they can fall and just get up again and carry on riding makes a big difference.

Will any of her friends come riding with you too? A bit of peer encouragement/pressure can go a long way.

Do you have a local Go-Ride club running coaching sessions? They probably won’t do anything different to what you do, but coming from someone else in a different context can make a difference.

Going back a bike (to the smaller bike they’ve ‘out grown’) has helped mine before. They are completely ‘on top’ of that and don’t worry so much about doing silly stuff.

Hi there.

My eldest is eight. Whippet climber but until recently quite nervous on all but one favourite descent.

Repetition of the same fun couple of trails seems to have nailed it.

Familiarity breeds confidence followed by contempt (as the big scrapes on his elbows from over cooking it last time out will testify he has now gone to the latter!).

Have you got any other similar age riders you can hook up with who are a bit better?

I set up a ramp in the back garden yesterday and today for our 9 year old, just some plywood and packing. Started with a 2×2 under it and ended up at about 6/7″ she seems to be enjoying it

Laughing at her and taking the piss works for my mates. Try that.

Any little pump tracks nearby?

They built two tiny kiddy sized ones in East Lancashire (Witton Park Blackburn and at the Pendle cycle race track). People were sceptical at first, but they are hugely popular with little kids (and occasional passing adult mtbers…)

They are smooth tarmac and very short / small humps and berms so at first even the smallest / most nervous can just sit down and pedal. Then you can naturally move on to learning how it feels to let the bike move around and eventually pumping it with no pedalling. Then a logical step to say “lets try another swoopy track”. Google some images to see those tracks.