That which caused the many failures I had in learning the bicycle had caused me failures in life; namely, a certain fearful looking for of judgment; a too vivid realization of the uncertainty of everything about me; an underlying doubt--at once, however (and this is all that saved me), matched and overcome by the determination not to give in to it.
Frances E. Willard, How I Learned to Ride the Bicycle: Reflections of an Influential 19th Century Woman
bicycling, self-confidence