Very new and a little scared

[ColoKate]

Congrats! I'm pretty fearful of falling too after some crashes a looong time ago LOL. I recently started commuting (albiet on my old mtb and not my new road bike) and the last mile is all downtown on busy city streets. Terrifying to me at first but I get more confident every day. It just took a little time and like Catrin said, just riding riding riding! A mirror would definitely help. I saw a woman yesterday with a mirror attached to her helmet.

[Blue_Fedora]

Congrats just on getting back in the saddle
I use two mirrors... one on my helmet and another on my drops. The one on my drops is the Italian Road Bike Mirror which I love love love beyond words. Between the two of them I'm pretty confident of what's coming up behind me. That said, however, I always physically look before I decide to move to the left (especially into the turn lane) regardless of what my mirrors show

[JennK13]

Welcome to the board! I've only been riding a year and a half, and got my "road" bike about 4 months ago. It was definately a progression for me, starting with a Trek cruiser style bike, moving to a Giant commuter bicycle where I was stil upright, but not as much - the Giant is substantially lighter than my Trek, and that took the most time to get used to. First time I rode it at any kind of speed it scared me as it's so much more responsive to any movement I make. Then I got my Fuji in February of this year - a lot lighter bike, but I was already past the weight issue - now it was a different riding position. I was fortunate enough to have a good fit from the beginning with the bike, so I was comfortable physically sitting on it. I had issues with the first pedals I had on it, as they were road pedals and I could not unclip for the life of me- fell over in the parking lot the day I bought it and left to ride home! Changed them out a week later to SPD pedals, and once I was comfortable clipping in and out (with DH holding the bike for me), I started riding on bike paths or on the roads during the weekends or early morning hours when traffic was lowest in order to get used to it. Practice, practice, practice!!!

As for traffic, when I started commuting, it did take a while to get used to it. I'm actually a very aggressive and defensive rider (and driver) - whether on the bike, or behind the wheel, I'm always looking out for the next idiot to cut me off or hit me - probably comes from riding a motorcycle. I make eye contact with drivers, especially crosstraffic who are likely to pull out in front of me - a lot of people don't realize how fast a bicycle is travelling and think they can "make it" across the street ahead of you - or they "see right through" you as they're looking at CAR traffic and don't even realize you're there. I will look at the driver, making eye contact, and especially on a downhill if I'm hauling butt, I'll shake my head "NO" at them, so they know I'm continuing straight in front of them, and that I know I have the right of way. No matter what, I always cover my brakes in case I need to stop, and if I see that they are still "creeping" out in front of me, I'll start to slow down in order to make any kind of evasive maneuver if needed.
I will also "take my lane" when coming up on an intersection so the cars behind me know what my intentions are, and don't try to cut me off to turn right in front of me (either intentionally or not) - especially important when there is a right turn lane, make sure you're not along the curb if you're going straight, but get over in the lane to go straight and make your intentions known!! Likewise, I will signal that I'm changing lanes to that straight lane so traffic knows that's where I'm going.
I also ride with head and tail lights on my commuter (and a tail light on my other two bikes), and turn them on DAY OR NIGHT for more visibility. My commute has quite a few shadowed areas and bridges where a driver's visibility is compromised by pupil constriction - the lights help a lot in making yourself seen.
I guess the point of these things are that by making myself visible, and alerting drivers of my intentions, it makes me "feel" more safe. That gives me peace of mind, and makes me more comfortable.
As to your issue of not seeing vehicles, I have that problem. I have an....attention issue All joking aside, seriously, I sometimes don't see what's right in front of (or behind) me. Not a good thing! Once you're comfortable with the physical act of looking over your shoulder while moving without pulling to that side, you'll be able to compensate by looking more than once or for a longer period of time to make sure a car isn't there. I've also found that some of my glasses actually obstruct my peripheral vision which forces me to turn even further to really look behind me as opposed to simply turning my head a little and looking out of the side of my eye - I hope that makes sense In other words, maybe the car was there all a long, but the arm of your sunglasses blocked it and you couldn't see it until it came closer to you and was in a greater field of your vision. You can also try to make your looks back more useful by looking further back. I try to look down the street, past what's right next to me so I know what's coming. If I'm coming up to an intersection that I need to turn left on, I'll start looking back when I'm like 100 yards or more away from the intersection to see how traffic looks so I know how soon I need to try to get over. That gives me time to adjust my speed in order to get over, I know approximately how many cars I saw back there, and can make my move accordingly.
Lastly, I know a lot of people here do listen to music while riding - I don't. Only if I'm strictly on a separate bike path where there are no cars will I wear an mp3 player. Riding to work in traffic on the street, I keep my ears open as I, like you, also listen for traffic. If I can hear that there's a car coming up behind me, I may not even HAVE to look - I can hear it and know it's there, and probably close enough for me to touch so I wont worry about looking and risk going over into its lane. Use all of your senses especially when you're starting out and aren't as comfortable yet as you will eventually be!!!
It really isn't doing any more than we should be doing when we drive (with the exception of the music!!!) rather it's being more conscience about making sure we're actually doing these things since the threat of physical injury is greater when we aren't surrounded by metal. Just like when we learned to drive the more you do it, the more comfortable you'll be at it. Just get comfy on your bike, practice the movements that you'll need to do on the road off the road first, get visible, then ride, ride, ride

[marni]

a trick I learned for looking back over you left shoulder which has helped me quite a bit.
before you turn your head, make sure you have a clear path ahead, then move your right hand slightly closer to the center, lean your weight slightly onto the right arm, slightly unweight your left arm, bend your left elbow so you don't pull the handle bar to the left and then look back by leaning slightly forward with your weight centered.

I no longer have to move my right hand to towards the center but still do the lean on the right, unweight the left, bend the left and lean forward to look.

In the meantime, practice, practice, practice, on grass if you are afraid of falling.
Ride calmly, assertively and make eye contact.

Best of luck- If I can survive the streets of houston crawling with Humvees and F150 ford pick em ups, all driven by me first Texas Yahoos, anyone can survive anywhere.

[christie1]

Wow, thanks for your responses.... I know it will just take time for me to get more comfortable.

Jenn- I bought a Fuji myself Loving it so far, even though I'm also a little scared. I've ridden 10 miles on it since getting it last night, and I am already feeling better about it. Even rode through the traffic this morning to work and back home, unscathed.

This is such a great forum- thanks ladies!! Just what I need to stay motivated, and best of all, keep on riding the bike

[christie1]

OK- I have another question, if anyone is still reading...

How long did it take you to feel confident/comfortable on a road bike? 100 miles? 100 hours? I am doing alright, but still not at all comfortable with signalling (bike gets all squirrelly when I try) or with getting out of the saddle while riding.

I went on a midnight ride on a paved bike trail last night (full moon, very bright) with my boyfriend, and scared myself a couple of times when there were bumps that I couldn't see due to shadows... I made it the whole 13-15 miles or so (not exactly sure) without wrecking, but I was a little freaked out at some moments. I am quite slow unless it's very flat and straight, and scared to go downhill too fast. I feel like the skinny tires are getting to my head, and I feel that even when I'm going at a pretty good clip, I'm still doing little balance checks from time to time.

I appreciate all your tips and advice!

[Libelula]

I've loved bikes since I was a kid, but I've only been seriously riding for a little over a year. Here are some of the things that I've learned along the way.

-- You mentioned being worried about bumps in the road - this is a huge one for me, and it's taken me a while to get used to letting the bike do its thing. The bike really can deal with a lot more than you might think it can. You may want to practice riding on less-than-ideal road conditions in a controlled setting like a parking lot. Like, ride over a stick. Then ride over a bigger stick. You get the idea. Try grass, gravel, torn-up pavement, whatever you want to convince yourself the bike can handle. Of course in general on a road bike you don't want to seek out these conditions, but it's really helpful to know what some of the stuff that you might have to deal with on a commute (sand, dirt, uneven pavement, debris, etc.) feels like in preparation for when you encounter it for real.

-- Practice holding the bars as lightly as possible. Feel how you can steer just by shifting your weight, without needing your hands at all. If you rely too much on the bars for support or balance, it's tough to take one hand off to get a drink or signal a turn. Think about your core and feel how it's supporting you (ab exercises are your friends!). If you ever do spinning classes, that's a excellent place to play with this feeling because you're not afraid of falling, so you can move your weight around and start to understand what's happening with your balance. Once you're comfortable not relying so much on your hands for control and support, it'll be much easier to take a hand off the bar when necessary.

-- When you're trying to see what's behind you but still need to hold a straight line, don't think of it as looking over your shoulder, which I imagine as a sort of horizontal motion, but almost...through your shoulder, if that makes any sense. So don't swivel your head like an owl, but move it down and back. Drop your chin and then turn your head to the side, and then do that on the diagonal in a single motion - that diagonal is what you're going for. It's a small change, but it makes a huge difference because you don't have to fight the inclination to turn your shoulders. This is incredibly helpful when you're riding next to cars or other people since it makes it so much easier to hold a straight line, so I hope I'm describing it well enough!

-- Have you had a bike fit? Even if you had one when you got the bike, you may want to consider another with a really good fitter - if not now, than in a couple of months once you've had some time to get used to what your bike feels like and what you like and don't like - since sometimes the "bike fit included with purchase" variety isn't the best. There's nothing like a bike that feels GOOD for increasing your confidence!

-- Practice, of course! But you knew that. And don't pressure yourself - just keep pedaling, and you'll keep moving forward. I had a nasty bike accident (broken jaw, among other things) in the fall of 2008, I got a real road bike only a few months ago, and I just did the Harpoon B2B last weekend (150-mile 1-day ride!). Keep riding, and you'll be amazed at what you and your bike can do.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

How long did it take you to feel confident/comfortable on a road bike? 100 miles? 100 hours? I am doing alright, but still not at all comfortable with signalling (bike gets all squirrelly when I try) or with getting out of the saddle while riding.

For me, I started getting comfortable at about 1000 miles. That was when i was able to stand up while pedaling, take a drink from my water bottle while riding ( i still prefer to stop though), and do traffic arm signaling while riding etc. It was also when i became less nervous in traffic. May I suggest a mirror to help you in traffic a little bit?

Beware of feeling 'too' confident.