Lovely Swedish cyclist does it in her street clothes. Find at: www.sockenbilden.se

I was telling the story recently of how unhappy a cyclist I once was, but I’m not sure my listeners believed me.

It’s true – my first adult experiences with cycling were miserable.

My boyfriend, a bicyclist, wanted to get me into biking. Definitely raised on the speed-sport side of bike culture, he took me on road biking rides.

My nose ran, my fingers froze, and my bicyclist boyfriend left me trailing time and again as he surged around a distant curve.

I couldn’t see (or say) one good thing about cycling.

I’m sure I’m not alone in this type of partner-pressure biking experience.

The funny thing is that now I wish I had photos of me in misery, because I think as a dedicated cyclist it is too easy to forget that there are real and perceived hurdles to getting started biking.

All it takes is one bad partner-pressure bike ride, or a horrible bike store encounter, to make a would-be rider feel like biking just ain’t worth it.

Oh, but it truly is. And there are so many ways to be a cyclist, and they are all good.

Deep down, I’m still a wimpy road-rider. I don’t like long rides, big hills, or a running nose.

And I don’t need to like them. Biking serves me. I want everyone to feel free to put on their kit and go out for a century OR wear what they’ve got and take the bike to the corner bar.

Like this woman – she manages to make her cycling stylish and casual at the same time.

It does sometimes take personal gumption to do even the things we want to. Like biking. But don’t wait. Be. Better. Bike somewhere, anywhere, in 2013.