Am I being a sissy?

[Trek420]

+1 what everyone says. Can you ride with other cyclists? You're more visible as a group. Even in bike-friendly parts of the city I work in I've noticed this happening. Riders are casually agreeing to ride with each others, single file and in a line but more visible this way.

Is there a detour? Think side streets, parallel roads ... let the cars have that narrow road and find a way around it. This will be further to ride but may be safer still.

[TahoeDirtGirl]

I would say go with your gut. There is a road I live nearby that I will not ride after 8 a.m. If I want to ride that loop, I get up at 4:45 a.m. and am on my bike by 5 a.m. I see people ride it but to me, recovering from a head injury isn't worth it. And you aren't being a sissy about it. I have gone over the handlebars many times in the dirt, but I'm not really so willing to do that on a road with cars behind me. I was pretty sketchy about riding on the road, but I have to say drivers in this part of Mass anyway are not that bad. There are some bad ones, but the roads I ride on are not that heavily traveled. Maybe you can use googlemaps and find another route? Talk to your LBS too, they might have some insight as to where you could park or a safer route.

Everyone gets obstacles like these, don't give up. I sometimes drive and park at a shopping center. I park the furthest from the stores. There are no signs that say "customers only" or things I see at my other home in Tahoe. There I'm not sure I would try it because tourists tend to park at supermarkets and go skiing! Just don't take the space that is prime like someone else said. Maybe you know someone that lives on this route too and you could park at their house? I would say most of all, the church would be a good bet, but I would ask on that one.

[Mr. Bloom]

If you're feeling unsafe, that's not being sissy...but your instinct speaking.

But here's a radical idea...that will pay for itself in just about 50 gallons of gas saved:

Fund Your Own "Share The Road" campaign on your street

Go to the City/Council and offer to personally buy two "Share the Road" signs (one both ways) and ask them to install them for you.

First, the signs are not incredibly expensive.
Second, I think people will be more respectful of your presence when they see a legal sign that announces your right to be there.

By your description, I'm guessing you're in the hills of East Tennessee. We live in a non-cycling friendly area of Indiana...but the local government loved the idea of "Share The Road" signs that someone else paid for...as our State Law is written, they almost can't refuse for the price of installation. Excepts from Tennessee's Code:

(a) Every person riding a bicycle upon a roadway is granted all
of the rights and is subject to all of the duties applicable
to the driver of a vehicle by this chapter ....


(c) (1) This subsection (c) shall be known and may be cited as the
"Jeff Roth and Brian Brown Bicycle Protection Act of 2007.”

(2)The operator of a motor vehicle, when overtaking and
passing a bicycle proceeding in the same direction on the
roadway, shall leave a safe distance between the motor
vehicle and the bicycle of not less than three feet (3')
and shall maintain the clearance until safely past the
overtaken bicycle.

Let the law work for you! Good Luck!

If you're interested, PM Silver or me and we'll get you the name of the company that we've bought signs from.

[Geonz]

People thinl I'm extremely intrepid - I don't even have a car - but the fact is that if I rode a road and got enough hostility, I"d figure I was simply playing wiht the odds and I would stop. Martyrdom happens too often already in the cycling world - I don't need to go out of my way to add to the numbers, especially when an awful lot of people would say "and what was she doing riding that road anyway???"

[beccaB]

I identify with your situation. I went with my husband to plot out and time a path to my work, and we both almost got hit by a car at an intersection. The driver looked right at us and proceeded to pull out directly in front of us. I found a way to go that avoids that intersection, a small bit longer distance. But since then I have made every excuse for not doing it. Arrive at work sweaty, being teased by co-workers(they aren't the fit crowd-exact opposite), changing clothes, having to bike home tired, after work commitments, etc.
I need to grow some courage giving body parts too!

[NbyNW]

Don't know if this is an option, but is there any chance the road would feel safer if you left home 30-40 minutes earlier?

My commute is entirely on city streets, but I find that if I leave home even 20 minutes earlier, there are fewer cars on the road, and everything is quiet and calmer. It's easier for me to find gaps in traffic, like when I need to turn off of a side street onto a main street.

Same with on the way home. If I happen to work an hour late, I notice that there are fewer cars, pedestrians, and other cyclists to dodge.

Not that I want to make a habit out of spending more time at work, but I figure when I get there a bit earlier I don't have to rush through cleaning myself up, changing, getting a snack, etc.

We have a guy in our office who works 7am to 4pm. He drives, but I think with those hours he beats the worst traffic. It seems that there are a lot of people around here who work those hours, regardless of what type of transportation they use.

[Melalvai]

I vote for the church parking lot, and ask their permission for using it.
I really like the idea of buying Share the Road signs. I will remember that one.