IT started with a Budgie — although not of the feathered variety. It was my sixth birthday present and it stood gleaming outside the front door like a gift from the gods. Soon I was propelling it down the steep slope of a nearby road with the wind in my hair and joy in my heart — it was the closest thing to an erotic thrill in those days of pre-pubescent innocence.

In the case of Chris Hoy, the gold medal-winner in the 1 kilometre time trial in Athens, the two-wheeled awakening came in the form of a spray-painted second-hand BMX. For Craig MacLean, a silver medal-winner in Sydney, it was a “scaled down Grifter”.

A Grifter! The very name is enough to transport one back to the days when anarchy consisted of cycling past the bollards of the main road, over the railway bridge and into the woodland beyond that seemed as remote as a rainforest.

The only difference between Hoy and MacLean and the rest of us is that, instead of leaving their bikes to rust in the garage at some point during adolescence, they carried on pedalling. Between them they have clocked up hundreds of thousands of miles in their quest for glory, although they never seem to tire of it. During a Times-supported taster session for local youngsters at the Manchester Velodrome last week, they were as enthusiastic as a couple of kids who have just had their stabilisers removed.

The years of pedalling have had a dramatic anatomical impact. After a demonstration on the track in which their bikes seemed to have sprouted wings, they lined up for a question-and-answer session like a couple of bodybuilders. Muscles rippled beneath skin-tight Lycra that, one could not help but notice, did little to conceal their modesty.

Their responses, however, were anything but immodest. Hoy was so charmingly shy that he seemed almost apologetic for all the fuss he had caused by his success in Athens. The 28-year-old captured gold in spectacular fashion in inheriting the mantle of Jason Queally. As the world No 1, he was the last to go and was preceded by a succession of Olympic record-breaking rides. To triumph he would have to smash the sea-level world record. In one of the most thrilling sprints in track history, he did so by the blink of an eye.

With margins so narrow, every training session counts. “Our athletes gained their edge by working that bit harder and smarter than the opposition,” Dave Brailsford, the performance director, said. “All our Olympians are provided with highly focused one-on-one support from the very best support services including specialist coaching, nutrition and sports science.”

It was not long before I was being directed on to the track. The bike offered to me by Rod Ellingworth, assistant national coach, was a far cry from my cherished Budgie. Space Age in sophistication but Stone Age in terms of comfort, it had only one gear, no brakes and handlebars like a couple of spikes.

But, boy, did it move. The merest prod with the legs translated spectacularly into whirring velocity. The efficiency across the wooden boards of the velodrome track was astonishing. The most striking thing, however, was the vertiginous steepness of the bank. From the inside lane it rears up like a cliff wall. Forty two degrees they say, but it looks more like 70. I bottled out of climbing it only to be informed by the instructor that kids as young as 7 have braved the top tier during the come-and-try-it sessions that are offered daily.

The youngsters on this occasion, however, seemed more preoccupied with the high-tech stationary bikes adjacent to the track that automatically measure everything from velocity to power output. Some of the youngsters gave it their all under the watchful eyes of the talent spotters employed by British Cycling. Kyleigh, a 15-year-old, was suitably inspired. “I want to come back and try to cycle around the top of the bank,” she said. I wondered which lesson she had missed to attend the session. “Citizenship,” she replied. “We learn about the effects of alcohol and drugs.”

You would have thought that a two-minute stroll through Manchester city centre on a Friday night would be all the education anyone needed on that topic.

And this is really the point about getting young people enthusiastic about sport. Kids are drawn to alcohol more out of boredom than the thrill of intoxication. Sport provides a vigorous outlet for those who would otherwise be out on the streets in search of the next thrill. There are other benefits too: the surest route to Olympic success is to provide sporting opportunities to those who would not normally be able to afford them. As Brailsford put it: “Lottery funding has widened the possibilities for youngsters to pursue their dreams. It is entirely possible that one of those here today has the physiological profile to win in 2012.”

PEDAL POWER

If you are interested in becoming involved with British Cycling, visit www.go-ride.org.uk. Go-Ride is a child-friendly introduction and, since Athens, more than 1,200 youngsters have signed on to the programme