I'm like Oak - I grew up riding on the road. I started cycle touring with my parents when I was about 10 or 11 I think - I was in middle school. I was riding all over by myself in city traffic by the time I was 14. I didn't even have a driver's license until I was 25. I don't have kids.

None of the worries other people have expressed have ever really affected me, I guess. I suppose a lot of it has to do with how I was raised. My parents were always quite active and I was allowed, perhaps even pushed to do things that other girls never were. Other kids thought I was weird, but I don't think that ever really bothered me. It certainly didn't change my behavior - nor has the fact that now other adults often think I'm weird bother me or change my behavior.