Strange.  I have been cycling for decades, some years much more than others.  In the early years the bike was simply a mechanism, a tool for playing in the yard.  Then it became transportation, freedom for a preteen.

Then I got a ten-speed.  More complex with all of those gears and brakes you operated with your hands, it was the coolest Christmas present I had ever received.  So began my love for gadgets.  I had always been curious about the workings of things, from the time I cut the music box out of the back of my stuffed gingerbread man as a young child.

While many of the people with whom I ride know little of bicycle maintenance I enjoy much of it.  Hooked on the gadgetry, I enjoy eBay and accessory sites and catalogs.  I find it interesting, all of the clever goo-gaws people invent to solve problems or just make the ride better, faster, different, or whatever.  I have spent hours and dollars changing my rides in various ways - some good, some not so much but always a learning experience.

I bought some shifters that I didn't previously know existed for an old road bike that turned out to be the best ones I have used.  I put a Montague Octagon adjustable stem on my old mountain bike, a rather ingenious design, that I think will really add some versatility.

It dawned on me recently that I like playing with the setups as much as riding, if not more.  That is probably why I have so many bikes, one of which I rarely ride.  I probably should sell that one but it is a doo-dad.  Can't have too many of those, right?