Research Report—Skill Loss, Part I:Opinion and Experiment

There is a well established belief that, once having learned, you never forget how to ride a bicycle. This is a myth. Whilst it is true that even after a long time without practice, people do not very often actually fall off their bicycles as they did when first aquiring the skill, there is ample evidence that skills do deteriorate if they are not regularly practised. Highly skilled sportsmen and musicians will readily agree that continued practice is necessary to maintaining a high degree of skill.