I kind of lost patience for the author's writing style, so I didn't read the whole article. However, while I'd love to see more people commuting to work or using bicycles for short leisure/shopping trips, the point of the article is one that should, at least, be considered. That is, if I understood the thesis correctly...

Essentially, she is suggesting that getting more people to commute to work by bicycle in the US is an unrealistic goal and that getting more people to bike to the store or to school seems more feasible, right? She might have a point. My commute is only about 6 miles round-trip, and I can't swear that I'd bike to work if it was even double that. But I might balance the carbon footprint of driving to work by making sure I ride a bicycle to go get a haircut down the block.

To encourage more bicycling for ANY purpose, I think we first have to get over the marketing BS that tells us we can't ride a bike without special shoes and clothing and that every bike needs a holder for a cell phone that's equipped with an app to tell us how fast we are riding, how to get to the Starbuck's three blocks away, and how fast we have to ride home to burn the calories in the chocolate scone we ate.