Personally, I like being around people. It is the TYPE of people that is the issue, ha ha. I live in the Austin, TX area (great biking routes) but I am also a mother and there are some parts of town which give me the heebie jeebies. However, I get frightened pretty easily since I'm small, ha ha, when my friend moved into a....well....not so nice part of town I ended up downloading a personal safety app created by an Austinite called real alert and believe it nor not it helps with cycling as well. I feel a little better but I am still a scaredy cat to the core. I'd rather have GOOD people to be around but I think a lot of you are right. Being around the necessities play a big part.