> I don't think its defeatist to say that no book or lecture about riding a bike would compare to the experience of actually riding a bike. To paraphrase the top-rated answer, why would you expect anything different from maths?]

This it the wrong analogy and does not capture the MO answer. The correct analogy would be training vehicle designers by teaching them all the parts necessary to build a modern bicycle without teaching them any of the ways early bicycles were designed and why those designs were discarded.