Cycling equipment. Like most hobbies cycling can get expensive. When I started, I thought that all you needed was a bike, sneakers, a tee shirt and a pair of shorts. Ha! You need cycling shorts (have 6, lightly padded, heavily padded, warm or cool weather, black or decorated), jerseys (14, more than # of dress shirts)), water bottles (8, every event gives you one), water bottle holders (1 or 2 per bike), a Camelback (for my recumbent that doesn’t accommodate water bottles), “trunk bags” (2, for keeping things on a long ride), saddle bags (3, for tools and tubes on short rides) , Chains, they are “consumables” that have to be replaced after a few thousand miles (the gears are good for about 5,000 miles), a floor pump for your shop, a mini pump for on the road, a lock, a cycle computer, spare tubes (5 at the moment- make that 4, had my first flat today), a spare tire, a mirror, cycling gloves (7, two pair that light up, two pair that are heavily padded, and three pair that are junky), a patch kit, tire levers, cycling shoes, cleats to go on the cycling shoes, cleat covers for when you’re not cycling, cycling socks, a wind jacket, a rain jacket, a vest, a mini-tool kit for on the road, a chain cleaner thing, solvent to put in the chain cleaner, lubricant for the chain, `a work stand that elevates the whole bike, a rear wheel stand for minor repairs, power bars, sports drinks, front and rear lights, butt cream, pedals (4 extra pair) (did you know that high end bikes come without pedals?) sunglasses (5), leg warmers, arm warmers and skull caps for cold weather riding. 4 extra saddles (on the path to finding one that fit my butt), helmets (4, they get pretty raunchy after a year or two on a sweaty head), a drawer full of small parts (I take after my dad, who has coffee cans full of screws and nails, sorted by size in the garage.) Note that these items were accumulated over 8 years. Like my dad, I never throw anything away.

I picked up a cyclist with a flat about a mile from my house and brought him home to give him a new tube. When I went into the kitchen to get him a drink, he called someone on his cell phone, “I got picked up by a guy who has a bike shop in his garage… - It must have been the five bikes hanging from the ceiling.