I think it's more about distance and sweat than not caring about health. If you're in Austin (like the author and myself) you're not going to go more than two m

I think it's more about distance and sweat than not caring about health. If you're in Austin (like the author and myself) you're not going to go more than two miles in a reasonable amount of time without sweating, especially if you're dealing with hills. For commuting, that shouldn't really be an issue, since any reasonable workplace should have some means of storing a bike and changing clothes. For unreasonable workplaces and situations where sweating is a dealbreaker (if you're going shopping for clothes and you're going to try things on, please don't bike far), an electric bike seems like a good idea.