Quote Originally Posted by alice View Post
Me too! True, I sometimes get myself into some sticky situations (e.g. going down hills I have to walk back up), but it's always an adventure. I often feel safer on a bike than I would in a car in some of the... less savory neighborhoods near my house.

That being said, I'm less likely to be willing to deviate from a plan on rural roads (if I've never taken them before), because I'm such a city person at heart; I always feel isolated in a scary way.
Since my whole cycling history has been in cities, crowded and traffic thick cities, I find for rural roads that are far out of town, I need to know in advance where I am going. Especially the highway interchanges, etc. Of course these are cities are over 1 million people.

For instance I moved to a city I am new and still have not cycled out to the edges of city because I know darn well the cars get faster and there are highway interchanges. There are unpleasant areas of urban sprawl ..what this city is getting notoriously famous for.

Where I am, the city (Calgary) is close to 1 million people and it is growing fast.

so I have to go with another cyclist first to get out to the edges so I feel comfortable on my own.