Great topic. I spend a fair bit of time in Europe, where more people ride bikes in the cities than take cars, and you see more women than men riding, I think. Women on road bikes, women in fancy dresses and heels on city bikes, women with kids--all sorts.

Here in the US, it never occurs to me to be afraid alone on roads or on trails. Wisconsin is a pretty safe state, but still.

I ride every other day, either alone or with a couple friends. But I never go with a bike club, for some reason. I'm much less comfortable with competition than many men are, and because I usually ride alone, I don't know how to ride in groups. And I know I'm not as fast as the guys who ride in the clubs. But it would be interesting to try group riding.