riding in the city on crowded urban streets always lined with parked cars, my two greatest fears are doorings and jaywalkers popping out between parked cars. you can't see them until you're right on top of them; very difficult to anticipate.
Originally Posted by
DrakeSuperbus
I am mostly only bothered when I find myself in a situation with a lot of "fast" cars (40+) and no safe shoulder. Urban driving doesn't bother me because the cars are generally slower, and country riding doesn't bother me because the cars are generally fewer.
Suburban riding (at least around the commercial areas where everyone is flying down the road and swerving into shopping centers) is the worst.
exurban arterial streets are the absolute worst in my experience. thank god i don't have to deal with them often. they have all the crazy, hectic, high-volume, rage-inducing traffic of the city, and the fatal high-speeds of country roads. riding a bike on a 4 lane exurban arterial with no shoulder is NOT my idea of fun. when i ride up to my sister's house in the far northern burbs of chicagoland (lake county), i have to ride about a 2.5 mile stretch of grand avenue to make the final leg to her house and it freaking sucks. i'd gladly ride out of my way to avoid it, but none of the subdivisions up there in the boondocks communicate with each other, so there's absolutely no way to side street my way around it. no shoulder, 50 mph speed limit (which means cars are running 60 mph), and enough traffic that trying to take the lane will get you promptly run over. it sucks.