Questions and a little venting

Hi All!
I want to thank you all again for taking the time to respond to my previous posts. I've got a plan of action for Monday as far as finding clubs and more information. For those of you who talked to me about the Surly bikes, I did indeed find 3 shops (2 less than an hour away) that have the cross check and LHT in stock. I'm going this coming week to try them out.
Okay, the questions:
What is a 7? What is a metric? What is the difference between the 2 different gear shifters? What are the called and why are they different? (I think I know but I'd like to be sure) For my mountain bike, I can only put disc brakes on the front...should I? I've been reading some of the older posts regarding going downhill...that spooks me a bit, I'll admit. Should I get them for my mountain bike and/or should I get them installed on whatever bike I get this spring?
Venting:
Yesterday I was out on the road and nearly had a panic attack going down a very slight grade that happened to be along a road where there are a lot of businesses and cars pulling out/in quite frequently. I was hit a few years ago under similar circumstances. I know I need to get comfortable on the road, but wow. Well I got past that intersection and found my groove. Rode very well except for the back half of my ride where, again I was riding along a particularly busy area and these girls backed out and almost hit me. Now, I ride a very bright red bike, I was wearing a neon orange shirt and bright blue helmet etc and there was plenty of light. They saw me. I know they did, because the driver looked right at me before she even started pulling out. When I whistled to let her know I was there as she pulled out she and her little friends laughed. They thought it was funny! Needless to say I cussed quite a bit then calmed down. Then some guys in a truck passed me and called out "Hey b***h" going the opposite way that I was going then turned around and came back to harass me!! People are insane and for the record I hate living in a college town. I just wanted to tell that story and say that I am really appalled at both the lack of safe viable riding areas along the road in this town and the utter lack of respect that these kids seem to have for others. Grrr! Just burns me up. I am riding a little more on the road both for variety and because I'm a great big chicken and haven't been back on the rail trail since I ran across a copperhead snake a couple of weeks ago. That's actually kind of a funny story if anyone is interested in hearing it. I know that riding in the woods can be inherently dangerous and normally I'm ok with the risk but that snake scared me to death.
Anyway, I'm done for now.
Take care,
Gray

7:
http://www.sevencycles.com/
metric:
Measured in metric units ... tj. kilometers etc. Metric century = 100 km = about 66 miles

I don't know about shifter and such because I ride fixed gear bike.

Hope that helps at least little bit. Don't feel bad, I had the same questions 6 months ago.

Martina

as to the shifters:

Brifters= Brakes + shifters all in the same place. Usually on a road bike with drop bars.

Twist shifters are usually on a flat bar style bike. It has a dial with the gear numbers.

Click shifters are also usually on a flat bar or a cruiser style. Has little levers to push to shift gears. It also usually displays the gear numbers.

I'm sorry about what happened to you and how stressful it can be to ride in your area.

Is there somewhere in your area where you can take "safe commuting" or "safe cycling" classes? They can be quite empowering and definitely worth the investment of time (and money, although they usually don't charge much if at all).

Hang in there!

I'd feel safer with the copperhead. Actually, I saw two snakes today while riding the C&O Canal, a tiny little baby rat snake and an adult black racer. The only time I've seen a copperhead, someone had run over it with their bike and killed it. #1 rule of riding rural off-road places: Don't run over anything that looks like a stick unless you're positive it is a stick!

Glad you survived today!

I'm looking at your post, GraysonKelly, and where you're from., I was a college student in Winchester, Virginia, and a runner, and nowhere else did I ever get harassed as much. I tried to run with friends as much as I possible could. Even now, I think 2 bicyclists are safer and more visible than one.

Nothing can be more annoying than being harassed. Being an overweight rider I knew that when I started cycling again that I would get comments from time to time. So far, I have been lucky and only one car of idiots yelled at me. I know what you mean about the disrepect - we get that a lot in our busy county too. We are getting very good at finding alternate routes that avoid some of the more congested traffic areas. Is there someone who can ride with you? Safety in numbers is a good idea. As far as wildlife encounters, the only time I got shook up about a snake was a couple of years ago when I was trying to get in a final lap on my mountain bike on one of our city park trails with a huge thunderstorm rumbling around I was pedaling like a mad woman when I saw this huge snake smack dab in the middle of the trail - I only had time to lift up my front wheel a bit and the snake slithered directly underneath between my two wheels - it was a diamond back rattler. I almost had the big one I tell you!! I encountered a park ranger back at the parking lot and told him and he said I was very lucky and that he had seen even bigger ones. They generally get out of the way of runners and bikers on the trail, but apparently this fellow was running from the storm just like me! Good luck with your riding and hang in there. I refuse to let idiotic people ruin my day - they are just jealous that you are doing something fun and healthy and all they can do is drive around and look stupid.