The last time I was this thrilled to get on a bike was in 1975. I was in third grade. And I had finally managed to do a “half-pedal” on dad’s bike. It was a Phillips bicycle. I am not sure if the concept of “half-pedaling” is still there in India.

Essentially, you are too short to get on the seat of the bike. So, we would hold on to the left handle with left hand, grab the seat with the ride hand, slip our right leg thru the frame of the brake so as to reach the right pedal and in general look like we were hanging off the bike from the left side. And since we were too small to go full rotation of the pedal we would simply pedal forward half a loop and then backward half a loop.

That act of being able to roll on the ground without the feet touching and the constant feeling of the wind on the face would send us to a sense of unparalleled thrill. The fear of falling down and getting hurt just added to the heady mix of adrenaline pumped feelings.

It was no different today. Did a maiden ride of 8 miles at a little over 11 mph speed with my first bike in over three and a half decades! The idea is to slowly back off from running miles and replace them with biking miles to adjust to the aging of the knees. To be sure, the Alpharetta hills kicked my butt for my first ride.

In a rich irony, growing up, our scooter had gears but the bicycle did not. Today, my car and motorcycle has automatic transmission but the bike has 18 manual speeds!

Hoping this new hobby sticks. If I have John Mcgehee to thank for getting me into running and Magesh Ranganathan for getting me into motorbiking, then, without a shred of doubt, I have to thank Matt Tebbe for getting me into biking.