Most of my riding is done on semi-rural/suburban 2 lane roads with no or little shoulder. I do ride through town centers, with shopping, train tracks, parked cars, lights, etc. Those are fine with me. I have only been told to "get off the road" once, and that was 2 weeks ago, in west Acton center, while waiting in the lane for the light to go green. As someone else said, clubs all bring their rides out by me and most drivers are OK.
I am much better with cycling in traffic (like suburban traffic) than a few years ago, but I don't ride in the city. I don't even drive in the city. When I go to class in Cambridge, just watching the cyclists scares me. There's no room at all, cars going everywhere, and no one here uses signals. In fact, we decided not to move to another suburb, that is decidly more urban, because of this. DH doesn't mind any type of urban riding, but I have a ver healthy fear.