Quote Originally Posted by Owlie View Post
Hi, Tara! I'm a Cincinnatian too--welcome! I agree, depending on where you are, it may not be safe to ride on the roads, especially in some of the older areas of town. Doubly so if you don't have a riding partner. I just drive. I'm in the northeast suburbs, and it's perpetual construction season out here--and people seem to think that 40mph is a lower limit. I'm not far from the Little Miami trail, so I just drive there. Technically I'm within biking distance, but since I live at the top of a long hill, that's not a fun place to be following a ride!

Where are you? (Feel free to PM me if you're not comfortable with putting that out there on the interwebs.) If you can drive a little distance to bike trails or more rural roads to get your skills up, great. If not, can you go out early in the morning on weekends and try some road riding? I lived in an older suburb (so, pretty urban) of Cleveland for a year with no car, and the only way I got any riding in was to leave my apartment super early in the morning. Get some bright lights (front and rear), a helmet if you don't already have one, and some high-vis yellow and reflective gear. It takes some getting used to, but the best way to get over the fear is just to do it.
I dont live downtown or anything, close to mt healthy or about 30 minutes from Cincinnati state. I usually bike at Winton woods! It's really the only place around here to bike, that is not like 45 minutes away. I'm not really a morning person HAHA. Ive thought about getting up early and doing it but even then not being very tired and not alert while riding on the road seems even less appealing to me lol. I sincerely wish we had bike lanes here. I would be on that in a heartbeat!