Quote Originally Posted by Aggie_Ama View Post
Next question- is there anyway to build confidence for riding alone?
I'm assuming that you aren't afraid of being hit - it's just being alone on a fairly lonely stretch of dark road, right?

It's hard, but the best way is to just do it as much as you can. I had the same problem on my old commute. There were stretches where I just felt unnerved when riding them in the early AM. In my case, I felt even worse when there was no traffic... I remembering coming to the road where the traffic was and feeling almost 'safer', like the cars were comforting. Weird, I know! I also think that if you ride at the same time, over the same route, the cars will get used to seeing you because most of them are also commuting and will be there at the same time, too. You can build a kind of rapport with them - it used to help me to see some familiar cars (if not faces) each morning.

To be perfectly honest, I never got 100% comfortable with it. I just got better at not letting it get to me (or to keep me from riding).