Salt Lake is a funny little city in a mainly rural state. We live basically downtown, but if we ride 10 miles north and a little west we are out in the country.

The 'country' section of one of our regular rides takes us up a stretch of 2 lane road past homes with horses and farm-y land, goats, cattle, and stuff like that. The road is good, but not great, and the shoulders are narrow. When cars or more likely pickup trucks pass us, they move way over, and give us the whole lane.

In SLC proper, the roads may be 3 lanes each direction, with a bike lane and an ambiguous strip in the center. Drivers crowd us, and honk and shout at us.

Okay, it isn't a perfectly fair comparison because not all the city drivers are like that, because there are so many more cars closer in. But Brewer & I were wondering if the drivers on that road are accustomed to going around kids on horses and tractors and meandering cattle and whatever else that passing the odd tandem is really not seen as such an inconvenience.

I've heard nasty stories about bad stuff that happens on country highways, so I know it isn't universal...
Anyone else notice any trends like this?