Answer: Because a bike only has two pedals
I saw that joke today and laughed. But it’s kind of true. Even though I’ve seriously shrunken the number of pedals on my board, I still use more than two. I know a few players that plug directly into their amp, and that’s it. But at least in my experience, they tend to be in the minority.
For me, I have to have three pedals minimum: Reverb, Analog Delay, and Chorus. But since I like different overdrives, I usually have one or two on my board. For a little icing on the cake, I also use a T-Rex Quint Machine, and I have a wah on my board because it’s always good to have a wah. 🙂
Mind you, these things aren’t crutches. I use them to enhance my sound. Admittedly, I used to use my overdrives as a crutch to get some sustain and compression. But I’ve been playing long enough now where I rely more on my fingers to get my sustain. It makes me work harder and lets me fight with my guitar a bit. With mod pedals like ‘verb and delay, it’s a subtle thing to add some ambiance to my sound.
But yeah, I dig havin’ me some effects…
Guitar Gear 
Hey I think I recognize you at the Gryphon instruments party last Sunday but what I was waiting for before I was going to say hello was to try to remember the name of the restaurant – – max’s— which I guess is a middle-age guy thing to admit that it took me six minutes even set a timer and I couldn’t think of it and then I totally forgot until just now but it came back super easy —Unless you were not there and you must think I’m just nuts.
Ha! Maybe that’s why I’m more of a bassist! ‘Cuz I cycle, too!