I bought my first pair in 2002 during a multi-day ride that I started with just two pairs of cut-off jeans. One night, in Old Saybrook, CT, a bike store was having a close-out on mountain bike shorts and I splurged for the $30 just to avoid having to go back to the hotel to do a wash. As you can probably figure, I threw the cut-offs away the next day and have ridden in only mountain bike (baggy) shorts since then.