I've been off a bike for years and have a 7 month old bike, named "Scout", who takes me on adventures. I have ridden more in 7 months than I have in probably 25 years! I have realized that I definitely have a bike riding "comfort zone". Even places where I feel confident driving in a car, where I know my way around, seem daunting for some reason. I have excellent bike maps of my community, use Google maps for bike routing, etc. There is no reason I should be timid about riding to places, but I am. Of course, I know to take side streets, streets with dedicated bike lanes, multi user paths, etc. Riding my bike to new places seems "scary" to me. I wonder if I'm the only one???

I have a big adventure planned out today with my DH (he doesn't know where we're going), and it will involve a ride to the transit station, taking our bikes onto light rail, riding over the Hawthorne bridge, Springwater corridor to "Cartlandia" (you can see on facebook). Cartlandia is a newly open area of food carts & bike friendly services along the major Springwater Corridor multi-user path. Se we're going there for lunch.

Even though I've got it all mapped out, know exactly where I'm going, etc., I'm a little anxious about it and I think it's because I've never done it before.

So...thoughts? Do you have a biking "comfort zone"? If so, do you strive to stretch that zone and get out more?