Did your parents support your bicycling when you were a child?
It's kind of a wonder that I actually still like bikes at 30 years old. The bicycling bug hit me hard when I was about 9. Unfortunately my dad considered biking a waste of time and money. So I wound up with bikes scavenged from dumpsters and yard sales. The bottom rung of the biking ladder. He wouldn't help me fix them and wouldn't pay someone else to fix them. Hell, he wouldn't even get me a helmet. I rode these bikes daily as my transportation to school and on weekends I would go out a long way for rides in the country. When I went off to basic my dad threw away all my bikes. The first good bike I had was when I got stationed in Seattle. I found a 4 year old Cannondale mountain bike in the newspaper. I bought it and it was one of the happiest moments of my life. I rode the hell out of that thing. Even rode it to Port Angeles twice. Then I bought an older Trek road bike and the PNW was my playground. Fast forward a few years and I'm out of the military. I had to move to the South and it was just too hot and humid to ride. I physically can't take that kind of heat. Sucks the life right out of me. I sold my bikes, which was real sad. Now, ~10 years later, I'm back in the PNW and enjoying bikes again.
On some level I have to thank my dad. He taught me a lot about bicycling by not helping me out. There were many things I had to figure out on my own. Hard won experience is the best teacher. He's kind of turned around now. He recently bought a very nice Trek for himself and supports my car free lifestyle.