Came across an interesting video from Smarter Every Day, a science based website from aerospace engineer Destin Sandlin that, in his words, attempts to find the unexpected. This video concerns a bicycle made with a gear that turns the wheel in the opposite direction. That sounds simple enough and I am sure most of you who have rode a bike think that you could master riding this bike fairly quickly. Just a little concentration and a push of the pedals and you would be off, maybe a little shakily at first but on your way.
Not so quick.
It turns out that there are so many factors at play in riding a bike that are hardwired into our brains once we learn how to ride one that dramatically altering any one of them makes riding a bike almost impossible, as you will see in this video. A very interesting example of the way our brain learns and adapts. Or not.
Take a look for yourself:
Redtree Times 
I’d love to give that bike a try, or see some other sailor give it a try, because it looks to me like they’ve set up exactly the situation you find with a boat’s tiller. The tiller always is moved in the opposite direction to which the bow of the boat is to move. If the tiller is moved to the port side (left), the bow turns to starboard (right). If the tiller is moved to starboard, the bow turns port.
On a large boat, tiller control becomes harder because the tiller has to be larger, and the effort required to steer increases. When a wheel is substituted for a tiller, it’s geared to act ike a regular bicycle: turn the wheel right, and you turn right.
Most people go through a period of adjustment with a tiller, too. In fact, it can be such an issue for some folks that little sayings have arisen to help folks remember what to do when they have to make a sudden turn. “Tiller toward trouble” is one. See that sandbar on the right? Move the tiller toward it, and you go left. 😉
I think that must be like trying to back up a trailer, where you often seem to be steering counter-intuitively. I think the difficulty in doing this with the bike is that you are also coordinating this counter-thought with a multitude of other movements.
On Sat, May 2, 2015 at 8:09 AM, Redtree Times wrote:
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