(R)Acing Bikes

I have a bad habit. When I try telling something to someone, a story, for example… I stretch it out way too much. Like a book being taken into a three-part movie. It is just the way how my brain works. If you have read most of my blogs or my facebook statuses, you might have an idea by now what I’m trynna say here. The thing that I wanna convey to someone is never straight forward. I add so many details to the plot that it gets way too diverted from the original plot that I forget what I was trying to tell in the beginning. If you are reading this right now, well, you are one of the guys who is new to my blog or who is tolerant to my words or who is someone who I have paid to read my blog. Yeah, my blog sucks.  

This is the first time that I have started the blog without telling you what I am gonna talk about. But sure, you already know what I am gonna tell you because of the title. Yes. But anyways, I have not started to write (or type) what the heading said, now, have I? No, that is the reason I said my blog sucks. 

And my typing just got better and I don’t know how. You see, people say you get perfect with practice. But exceptions are always there, aren't they? The last post I wrote in my blog was a long time ago and I know it. You might not. I’m telling you, ever since “WhatsApp” my productive things have stopped. I mean, stopped, like instantaneously. I have stopped writing blogs, I have stopped youtubing, and I have stopped studying…. well, the “stopped studying” part is obviously a lie. I have never studied even before WhatsApp. Anyhow… Earlier when I started this blog I used to blog often and my typing had been normal. 

But now, all of a sudden I write (or type) after a long time, my typing is good!??! Does that even make sense to you, Mr/Ms. Reader? Okies, let's get down to business. This concept called "riding bikes" (or is it "driving bikes"?) has always been a thing that scares me. I was too afraid of seeing the bikes (especially the fast ones) that I have thought more than a hundred times that I was never going to be able to ride one. But things are not always what you think they are gonna be. To tell you how I’ve been with the bikes from the beginning, there a quite a few interesting stuff off the top of my head that I could think of right now. 

Let me take you on a quick flashback ride. 

*Swoosh* (Am I doing this right?) 

We were in Satchyapuram, Sivakasi where we have our own house which was built in the year 2000. Our relatives were all there. I was like 5 or 6 years old I don’t know. I am too lazy to count now even though I have all the time in the world. Our house is located at the outer parts of Sivakasi. It's a house like the ones you see when you go in a bus and cross the city limits. Yeah, like that. There was a road in front of our home which was a mess and it was just the soil made into a road with the occasional vehicle run-overs. It was pretty bad I would say. On that road, my uncle, a resident of Sivakasi had come in his bike to see our home obviously. At that time, my older brother who must have been 12 or 13 was so enthusiastic that he wanted to ride that bike. 

He somehow managed to swipe the keys somehow and he had “kick started” the bike. He stood there vrooming his bike letting the smoke from the vehicle come out and triggering the global warming. And I, being the 6 year old kid (or 5) was sitting on the back of the vehicle. The crazy part was that I wasn't even wearing a shirt. I was bare bodied showcasing the little of bones I had then. Not 206 that I know for sure. 

You see, in bikes the only thing you gotta get control is the release of the clutch when you shift the gear to drive by putting on the first gear. This takes a little while to get to understand how far you should release the clutch in order for the bike to move. All I knew was that it was a bike. No more did I know then. So, this clutch system is a little tricky at first. This, my brother had not known. I was sitting on the bike one sided. And further more I was half nude. This happened in the morning actually. The sun was scorching. That was the reason why I was not wearing a shirt. The bike was letting out smoke. My brother was accelerating without shifting the gear to drive mode (in neutral gear). 

Simply said, he was getting all the attention. And to a sudden surprise there happened something. You guys know what a wheeling is? It's something that happens when you suddenly let go of the clutch after you shift the gear to the first one. The front wheels takes off like a plane and the back wheels stands its ground. Now had he released it very slow like a driver should do, the bike would have done it's job of moving at a slower pace. But he didn't. He released it like one releases a dog raging to get out of hold. And this turned out to be unfortunate for me. I wasn't even gripping anything for support. I didn't know he would do a wheeling. Not that he did it on purpose, he just didn't know how to release the clutch. So, yeah. I was not holding on to anything; the bike takes off at 90 degree angle. You can guess what the result is. Yes, I fell. Before even getting a smallest chance of riding a bike, I've been in a fall. Great way to be introduced to a Bike, isn't it? 

So, this happened. From that day, I never dared to prefer taking a bike for a ride. And also I am afraid of fast bikes. I don't know how boys drive so fast but when I sit in the backseat with a friend who rides freakin' fast, I panic the sh*t out. The air hitting my face while in a fast drive freaks me out. After that I never touched a bike. I completely avoided going near a ignited bike. I do when I have to go with friends. So this went on for a few years.

The next time I rode a bike was when I 15. Again, in the same bike from which I fell a decade back. I had gone to his home and I wanted to give it a try. I took it out for a spin (is this how they say it to be cool?) in front of his home. I barely moved the bike 500 yards when suddenly an auto came approaching and so obvious that is, I turned off the engine. The auto was standing straight in front of me. I tried moving the bike with my legs but the bike wouldn't move a spare part. I didn't know what to do. I was helpless. But the auto driver was kind enough to tell me that I had to press the clutch in order for the bike to move when in gear. So, I can say that I learnt something that day. Silly, Me. 

Days rolled, years crawled and my dad bought a gear-less vehicle so as to make my mom also drive the two-wheeler. That means only one thing, I had no contact with the geared vehicles even then. In that two-wheeler only I faced an accident. You might know that I wrote a separate post about that. Search my blog. Go, read it if you haven't. Hey, I am just kidding. I won't torture you like that. You are already being tortured here, why go for another one, right? 

When I joined college, I didn't have a bike. Some of my friends were so supportive that they voluntarily gave bikes to me and taught me how to ride. If not for them, I would still be bikilliterate even today. When they taught me riding, I was brave enough to muster up all my courage and go for the take. In contrast to that, when I need to take the bike for an emergency, I could not have the same level of courage. I would fear that I would turn the bike off at a crowded place and be embarrassed. And you know what, riding a bike is in a boy's blood I think. When I finally learnt how to ride the bike thoroughly (or I think I have) I feel an adrenaline rush when the wind hits my face. Once you fell that in your blood stream, you've aced your Bike training. And I have aced mine. At least I think so. 

That's my time guys. I am signing off. See you soon.