Intro--so excited to find this forum!!

[tulip]

Spinning classes are a great way to build fitness. The only way to get more comfortable riding a bike, however, is to ride a bike. If you are uncomfortable in traffic, you might want to look into taking a basic bike skills class. The League of American Bicyclists teaches them all over the country.

Enjoy!

[greyhoundluv]

Spinning classes are a great way to build fitness. The only way to get more comfortable riding a bike, however, is to ride a bike. If you are uncomfortable in traffic, you might want to look into taking a basic bike skills class. The League of American Bicyclists teaches them all over the country.

Enjoy!

Oh this is an excellent idea! Thank you!

[Owlie]

Welcome to TE! The best way to get comfortable riding in traffic is to, well, ride in traffic. Take a basic skills class, then get used to roads by riding early weekend mornings or during the day. (Though the weather is getting sadly less conducive to that!) Do what you feel comfortable with.

I've had my bike for going on three years. (Her second "birthday" was in July.) The first season, I barely rode at all. My second season, I rode a bit more, but it was lots of short rides (no more than 10 miles most of the time). This year, I've essentially tripled the miles that were on my bike. Alas, due to the fact that I have to actually continue my education, I'm not riding a lot right now. Once I'm done with classes and am on a lab schedule, you can bet I'm tweaking it so that I can ride before going in in the morning!

[Velocivixen]

I think it's a great idea to take classes, esp. if they're free. My LBS has a series of four classes: changing a flat, gear shifting, commuting 101, basic maintenance. I have taken them more than once and I seem to learn something different each time.
For me riding on streets involved having a bike map of my city, so it guided me to streets with dedicated bike lanes, showed lower volume but through streets, and streets to avoid. I realize not every city has this type of map.
Here's a free online class I did through League of American Cyclists. It says it takes 4 hours, but trust me, it doesn't. Make sure to watch the included supplemental videos - they're really good:

http://www.bikeed.org/

Hope it helps. Hang in there and get out and ride. Even if it's just around the block. Once you get into the habit you'll actually start looking for excuses to ride. Have fun too.