Like any other activity, riding a bike is also a matter of practice. I have learnt this the hard way.
I was no expert on riding, ever. But fear never had a grip over me till few years back. For the last two and half years or maybe three years, I have not been riding a bike. And now when I do ride, there is this lack of confidence and a certain level of fear that has a grip over me.
So I wanted to figure out a way to deal with this. And it seems that Malcolm Gladwell's book, 'Outliers: The story of success', can be the saviour.
Anyways, this problem shall be dealt with over a period of time. The book explains the interesting study by Anders Ericsson which is '10,000 hour rule'. Its simple, one masters a skills as a result of dedicated practice, it is the magic figure of practicing for 10,000 hours. And then he goes on to give many examples of successful people e.g. Bill Gates, Beatles etc.
Since I have no desire to become a great biker, hopefully even few hundred hours of riding should work out!!
Although I am not sure if there is an empirical analysis but there is an age age old maxim, "Practice makes a man Perfect", so there is not much hope for me either. Except riding the bike on every possible occasion. Even Rome was not built in a day, perhaps with time the riding fear will lessen.
