When I first asked for a "serious" bike (early 1970s, the middle of the ten-speed craze"), my depression-era parents could not comprehend why I wanted a road bike. To them, a racing bike was frivolous and impractical; a bicycle was for transportation. It drove me crazy, but it did mean that I had to get a job and save my own money to eventually buy a bike other than the brown CCM Elite my parents gave me.

Even today, my dad looks at my bike and mockingly asks if I actually use all 20 gears ...