I like the links with cycling history. On the Tour and other races a rider might get off at the bottom of a climb and instead of turning the wheel through 180 degrees to use the lower gear he would turn it through 360 and put the same gear back. His rivals who would have stopped to change as well would be on the lower gear and so would be at a disadvantage.
Fixed gear was the winter ride of many British clubmen and fixed was the preference of most British time triallers into the 60’s. A typical gear would be 81". The British National champion was trounced by Jacques Anquetil riding gears at Criterium des Nations during the early 60’s. He took that experience home with him and derailleur gears became more popular. Sorry, can’t remember his name.