I know, it's a common thing, I'm seeing.

I just bought a new road bike today. I've been toying with getting one for over a year now, and finally bit the bullet. I used to have a Giant hybrid bike that I liked well enough, but never got too into it... I used to do spinning quite frequently, but not so much anymore. I'm in pretty decent shape, and mostly run and lift weights for exercise.

I took a bad, bad spill on a mountain bike (not sure why I even tried that knowing how poor my cycling skills are) over a year ago, and I'm very scared to fall again. Is it inevitable that I will crash again? The mountain bike incident wasn't even on the trail, it was once we got back down to the road and I turned too sharply and spilled over the handlebars and bloodied up my face, breaking the visor on my helmet... needless to say, I'm kind of scared to get into riding, even "just" road riding.

Anyway, I knew it would be this way, and I know there's a learning curve... but I'm not very good! The road bike is a different feel from the hybrid or the mtn bike (which was borrowed), obviously... and I'm sure it will take some time to get used to it. I'm wanting to use the bike for commuting to work as well (about 3 miles... easy!). I chose the road bike because I'd like to become a better cyclist and would like to build up to longer rides of 2-3 hours.

But... I'm scared of riding in busy traffic, which will be part of my commute, unfortunately. I am able to look over my shoulder to see what's behind me, but I am still having a hard time actually seeing what's behind me. Like tonight, I rode a little more than 4 miles, mostly to get used to the bike and the roads. I look behind me, and don't see anything, yet I can hear a car coming behind me shortly thereafter. I really scared myself because at one of those moments, I almost crossed lanes in the street to get to the left for a turn. Good thing I decided to check again, and that I heard the car behind me in time. Does/did anyone have this problem? Maybe I'm not looking for a long enough period of time, or maybe I'm not looking in the right place on the road? I'm not quite sure. It wasn't dark out. I have a feeling I just wasn't comfortable looking over my shoulder for a long enough period of time to see anything coming at me... does this make sense?

Also, I'm having a bad time riding with one hand, like during signaling, or needing to scratch my face or something... Tonight I was just trying to take my hand off for a short moment, and then increasing the length of time that the hand was off the bar each time... but I still feel very uncomfortable with it.

Maybe all of this will just take time, and I need to get used to it... but I would appreciate any help and/or tips you may have!