I must be a total wuss because riding on the road is way harder then I thought it would be and this isn't the first time I've ever done it either. here's a little background: I actually did a bit of cycling a few years ago. I was really getting into it with my mountain bike nd my husband bought me a beautiful Klein road bike that is way too much bike for me but was soooo pretty I couldn't turn it down. That was 4 years ago. Over the next year or so I tried to ride as much as possible but eventually I let other things in life distract me (like trying to get pregnant, being pregnant, and having twins) and now my bike has sat for 3 years.

So here I am back at the begining with the same old newbie problems and I don't know how to address them. First, I live in a place where there are few shoulders and no bikelanes or bike paths. I found I have a brand new fear of drivers and riding on the roads makes me very very nervous. Second, For some reason hills really scare me. I'm not out of shape, I work out as much as I can and even was running for a while until I developed a foot injury. But I'm not in bike shape and the daunting task of climbing a hill as well as coming down at really fast speeds brings fear to my heart, and that's all I have to ride on here. I went out on saturday and turned around after a few miles down one road because I saw an enormous hill in front of me. Is that just stupid? Am I total weenie?

Finally, and I think this is a combination of the two other problems, I feel totally exposed on my bike. When I ride a mountain bike, which I have done more recently then my road bike, I fell like the bike is very sturdy and I have something to hang on to. But on my road bike I really tense up when going fast or being passed by cars because I just don't feel confident in either my skills or my bike and those skinny littel tires. Is that nuts?

I really really want to enjoy my bike. I remember how much fun I had riding years ago and I want to recapture that. Am I the only person that has had these silly fears when starting out and does anyone have any suggestions on how to get over them?