Learning to cycle

Source A: an original contemporary non-fiction-style account.

“I joined an adult cycling class in April. We met on Sunday mornings in the car park behind the leisure centre, where the instructor laid out a row of orange cones. There were six of us, and we began with the pedals removed. I had expected a lecture about balance; instead, we pushed ourselves along with our feet and tried to stop looking at the ground. By the second lesson, I could travel the length of the car park without touching down. The distance was not impressive. The fact that I had chosen to move through it was.

When the pedals went back on, the bicycle became a small argument between my hands and my knees. I gripped the handlebars as though they might escape, and every cone seemed to leap into my path. The instructor told me to look where I wanted to go. It sounded too simple to be useful, until I discovered how faithfully the front wheel followed my anxious stare. A month later I rode to the shops. Cars still made me nervous, and I chose the quiet route. Confidence, I learned, was not the absence of caution; it was having enough skill to make caution useful.”

Source B: an original nineteenth-century-style letter or account, written for practice; this is not an archival document.

“Sir, I have lately attempted to master the bicycle, to the considerable entertainment of the boys who gather beside our common. My first instruction took place in a yard, where a patient friend ran at my side and exhausted himself in preserving my dignity. The machine appeared to require the simultaneous attention of every limb, leaving none available for the simple business of thinking. I was advised to proceed with confidence, a commodity which my instructor possessed in greater quantity than I.

Yet I must report a change of opinion. Yesterday I travelled beyond the last houses without assistance. The road rose gently, the hedges opened and I found that the distance which had once obliged me to arrange a carriage could be undertaken by my own effort. There are ruts to avoid and reckless drivers to fear; I do not propose that enthusiasm should abolish prudence. But I had mistaken my awkward beginning for proof that the enterprise was unsuitable. I now suspect that the greater absurdity would have been to remain at the gate, perfectly dignified and going nowhere.”

Refer to both sources. Infer the differences in the ways the writers are taught to cycle. Write a summary supported by details from both sources.