From Alan Preacher
Harry Collins’s article on tacit knowledge includes a prohibitively complex formula for riding a bike (29 May, p 30).
I have a friend who decided to teach himself to ride a bike in his forties after hearing that it was supposed to be impossible to do so after the age of 21. He was successful, but has confided to me that riding a bike seems to require a lot more concentration on his part than for those who had learned as children.
He had developed a formula of his own when learning to ride: simply steer the bike in the direction that keeps the bike underneath you.
Briar Hill, Victoria, Australia
