Yes, I remember it well because it was quite absurd. I was raised in the Netherlands and at this point in time, 1982, the return to cycling was already national policy and safety was a big concern after all the traffic deaths of the early 70's. These cycling lessons in schools where introduced that year that I was in 5th or 6th grade of elementary school so I must have been 10 or 11 years old. So we didn't have our usual lesson in the afternoon, but we had to get our own bikes out of the bike parking into the school yard were a police officer and some municipal civil servant had placed some traffic cones to make a course and we should ride around it and stick a hand out before every turn.

But our bikes were there because we all biked to school for more than a year. Every morning, wind, rain, snow or ice, I biked 3 miles to school, partly on bike lanes, partly on the open road, we negotiated dangerous crossings, we handled cars, trucks and busses, lots of other kids on bikes and then at this tiny school yard they're going to learn us how to ride a bike and judge whether we are good enough to get a certificate? Basically we revolted, we were insulted, there's no better way to get kids mad than treating them like they're younger than they are. So we started showing off our skills and made a competition out of it, the most fun was when the civil servant yelled to stick your hand out for the turn to stick the only one out that was on the handle bar and take the turn hands off. The police officer was cool about it but the civil servant got really frustrated and called in the help of the headmaster who restored a bit of the order, but handing out the certificates wasn't the celebration moment she had in mind because it was met with indifference.

We were really serious about our bikes, our bike meant freedom and independence and there was pride in knowing how to handle it well, go fast and in special skills like wheelies, handsfree riding and jumping. But we were very well aware that a car, truck or bus could kill us. If we weren't our parents would have us take the bus the school, and that would be really humiliating and you would get laughed at by the other kids.

Now I believe cycling lessons in school are a good idea, but you have to start very early and take kids seriously when it comes to cycling. And don't disturb the motivation to ride safely that comes from within. The main reason me and thousands of other kids in that town survived wasn't these lessons and not even what our parents learned us, but the fact that is was 'cool' to be good at handling traffic situations, to be trusted by your parents at a younger age than the others was a matter of pride and had a lot of rewards.