You’re a hip, healthy, and environmentally conscious citizen of the world. You read Shift Magazine to keep up-to-date on the latest advancements in green living and ethical consumption. You have a fulfilling career in the relaxed office of a successful not-for-profit corporation. Or you freelance in five different fields. Or you run a competitive international business from a solar-powered desktop on your secluded, rural organic farm. Your eclectic and fascinating travel itineraries arouse the envy and hatred of your friends. Yet despite your financial successes, you take mass transit all the time, or drive to work with the latest hybrid and hydrogen cars that you’re beta-testing. Perhaps you’re interested in these lifestyles, but you’re watching them from afar as if at a high school dance during the first slow song. Rich or poor, you probably considered buying a bicycle for transportation at one point, but ultimately decided against it.

Why? The answer is simple. We're cowards. We’ve read the statistics. We know that it’s safe, but we can’t shake the fear that an eighteen-wheeler will crush us like pancakes the minute we reach our first intersection.

If you’ve ever wondered what it actually would be like to take the plunge into this increasingly popular mode of transport, let “City Biking for Cowards” be your guide. This regular blog will chronicle the cautious steps that one scaredycat is taking to discover that "other New York" — filled with fit, healthy, happy, politically active, and sexually virile citizens waging a silent protest against a large, anonymous city bent on crushing it with commerce, street traffic, and a decaying public transportation system. Watch a law-abiding and productive citizen with a spotless criminal record get chased by the police at monthly Critical Mass bike rides. Learn how to lock up your bike in style at the world famous Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. Get savvy to the secret language and ideas of your fellow travelers, and discover how one man’s journey can serve as an example to the fearful onlookers numbed by their morning commutes.

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Adam Klasfeld is a compulsive blogger, traveled journalist, and theatrical guru. Since graduating Rutgers College in 2003, he has reviewed plays internationally for TheaterMania.com, traveled to Alaska as a playwright, and has self-produced, written, and directed two productions at FringeNYC — North America’s largest multi-arts festival. Still, the thought of riding his bicycle next to a pack of fare-hungry cab drivers terrifies him. Hence the name of his new blog: “City Biking for Cowards” (bikingforcowards.blogspot.com).