Quote Originally Posted by velogirl

I know many less experienced riders like to ride on bike paths because they don't feel comfortable riding on the road. However, don't lull yourself into a sense of safety.
You're absolutely right. I was terrified to ride the roads and stuck mainly to the paths in the beginning. Fortunately one of them is a very and heavily travelled beach path. I did however, take off up the Santa Ana River Trail by myself once and reached an area that I wasn't comfortable in, and turned around quickly. It wasn't smart of me to be out there alone.