The truly frightening aspect about the views held in these articles is that they equate difficulty with undesirability. While it is natural for human society to become more efficient, there is a limit to how much convienence is good. That which we do not work hard for is taken for granted. By so taking a thing for granted we also forget its joys. Instead, our thoughts turn toward more trivial things, and we ultimately forget what it means to be a lifeform.
The appeal to cycling, any any difficult activity, is that we accomplish something. Sense of accomplishment is a tremendously empowering feeling.