There was always a mystique about bicycle ownership when I was a kid. Part of it was the play that we did on bikes, but another piece was the freedom that a bicycle conferred. Suddenly, the baseball field eight blocks from home wasn't too far away. The same could be said for the market, the tennis courts, and even the skateboard park over two miles from the house. But not all was fun. From the time that I was in the third grade, it was expected that...