A comment and 2 questions (unrelated.)

First off, OP, you are not alone in regards to riding in traffic. I don't want to either. As for rural, you couldn't get any more rural than I am. Heck, it would take me 5 hours to bike to the nearest Walmart, that's how rural I am. I'm in the middle of nowhere and all roads are either 55 mph limit 2 lane state road highways (1 lane in each direction) that people drive up to 70 mph on, or up and down constant hills no road lined with blind turns every couple of hundred feet back country 35 to 45 mph roads that people drive up to 60 mph on. Traffic on the other hand is almost non-existent compared to towns and cities, rural or urban. I certainly don't feel comfortable on the 55 mph state roads where majority drive 10-20 mph above the speed limit nor do I feel comfortable on my back roads behind my house up and down all the hills where I might not make it around the bend when I'm out of sight of a driver who just came around the previous turn and reaching me before I'm on a straight again and fear getting mowed down at 60 mph by someone in a 1976 Ford F-250 with a 6 inch lift and 40 inch tires. I'm pretty sure I'm not going to win that battle.

As for city riding on the road, heck, I don't like coming to the city in a car let alone being out there exposed in traffic with a 12-14 mph speed.


Now since they were mentioned, my questions. Someone suggested "cycle shorts (or better yet, bibs).... I have to ask, what the heck is the difference? I gave a google search for "bibs" and all I saw what what looked like cycle shorts.

And now the question about a helmet mounted mirror. I am wondering if they work with someone who needs reading glasses? That's one other thing that happened to me as I hit 40 last year, I need to wear reading glasses now or everything up close is blurry (though I'm going to blame that on new contacts that my eye doctor put me in rather than the "turning old" thing, LOL.) With the mirror mounted on the helmet, and so small, it is awfully close to your eye and I don't think I would be able to see in it. Then again, I wonder if it is different and would be fine since it would be a view of something further away than my close up vision problem. I just got to wondering that yesterday when I was talking to someone out on the trail yesterday talking about how I just started riding and he pointed to his helmet mounted mirror and suggested similar. I don't plan on riding in traffic, just continuing on the bike trail, but I would like to not be surprised by faster folks coming up behind me and passing since I am usually listening to music while I'm riding. I glance back often, but even that is difficult with my contacts because I don't have very good vision when my eyes are moved to the extreme corners causing my contacts to shift a little on my eye.