Biking- The Beginning

Ever since a kid, biking was a passion. Started in about 1985 as a 3 year old kid sitting on the petrol tank of a Yezdi owned by Dad, holding the mirrors and trying to sway the bike had always excited me. Everyday when my Dad came home I used to run and climb the Yezdi. I have burn marks on both my knees of the multiple burn marks from the silencer pipes which run majestically both the sides(Only boys/girls who have climbed Yezdi/Jawa as kids can relate to this).Then had to move to a hostel on borders of Karnataka & Kerala where seeing bikes was scarce. Slowly the passion took a back seat and the rat race took front seat. 

Then came college life and my first bike was a Hero Puch 3G. I however started riding with the Yezdi!!! The sound of the bike made it thrilling to ride. 

The first time I asked Dad if he could teach me to ride and he said Beta, try and start this and I'll teach you to ride. Every day I used to kick the Yezdi and the Yezdi used to kick me back (People who have ridden Yezdis & Jawas can relate to this).This went on for almost 15 days and then I said enough of wasting time, now I have to start this damn thing. I took the bike to a slope, sat on it and then started to descend the slope.Suddenly I put the bike in second gear expecting it to start but the bike had other plans. I went almost half a kilometer down the slope and yet the bike showed no signs of starting. I then had to push the bike all the way up and park it. Watching me do all of this, my Dad finally thought and said, Now you are ready to learn the bike. That is how my biking Journey began.

Dad's Yezdi during one of the Ayudha Poojas in the 70s.

We then had 2 bikes namely Yezdi and Hero Puch 3G and we were enjoying all the rides!

Suddenly in  November of 2001 or was it 2002,we heard that an awesome bike was about to launch. It was the Pulsar 150 & 180.

We then booked the bike under exchange offer. That I guess was the biggest jump in my biking life because we gave away our Hero Puch & upgraded to 150 cc Pulsar in 2001-2002. This pulsar is still standing in my garage. My Dad later gave away the Yezdi 250 which I still regret why I did not stop him from doing so.

I rode my Pulsar wherever I could and used to do Bangalore Mysore as then that road was too awesome not to do. I would ride to places with friends.

Me in Mysore at Chamundi Hills in 2006.

The love takes a backseat:

Slowly career started taking front seat and I was thrown over to different parts of India like Mumbai, Gurgaon, Hyderabad etc. where carrying bike wasn't possible so slowly passion of riding took a back seat. But saving for an awesome bike started.