The thing is, all these people who talk about comfort and enjoyment, don't seem to realise how depressing being a bit crap can be.
Oh, I get it, believe me...
It's miserable not being able to go anywhere interesting because you can only manage a tiny fraction of the required distance.
It's miserable not being able to go fast enough to be able to practically mix with traffic.
It's miserable riding the same old route over and over because everything else involves a bastard hill.
It's miserable not being able to join in on group rides because no group is going to get out of bed for 20k at a 7mph average.
It's miserable to need a three-fold improvement in battery technology before cheating's a realistic option.
It's miserable to have to cancel your ride because of what the thermometer says.
It's miserable being continually afraid that your knee/hip/foot/digestive system/whatever might fail and strand you in pain (or worse) miles from anywhere.
It's miserable to have a disability that means you can't transport your cycle to ride somewhere more pleasant.
It's miserable to be the slowest in the group.
It's miserable to not have a better bike.
It's miserable to fear serious injury.
It's miserable not to be able to see well enough to ride on your own.
It's miserable to carefully plan every ride to avoid anything that looks like a contour line.
It's miserable to carefully plan every ride to avoid getting the shits.
It's miserable to not be able to cycle because you can't afford the recovery time.
It's miserable to finally achieve some goal and realise you've hated every minute of it.
And it's miserable to realise that, marginal gains aside, you're unlikely to ever be substantially better.
I cycle anyway. I'm not entirely sure why.