Boudicca,

That's scary. Toronto was far more bike-friendly than Chicago but not as safe as Ottawa if I recall from last year. I think that was more to do with the nature of bike paths in Ottawa vs. TO. I was still very, very impressed. People here in MO don't know what to do with bikes and most cyclists act completely inconsistently because they don't know either (college town). It leads to some very scary things happening. Also, since you can park in every single bike lane and few trails run completely across, you find yourself often weaving incessantly, which leads me to just take the lane. The planning here is really just starting and, unfortunately, a lot of it is just not the best. Where my parents live, there are few dedicated cycling lanes and traffic is far more respectful of us, which is nice. I never have the issues with cars there that I do here on a daily basis.