Originally Posted by
jplee3
Fortunately, about half of the commute is on a pretty straight and pretty empty MUP. Where it gets a little sketchier is once the MUP ends and gets into the commercial/business park area - riding the streets around here is scary, especially because it takes several left-turns to actually get to the business park where I'm at. I just wish they'd expand a thru-trail so I could get to my business park by MUP (I think there are plans for this eventually but it's probably a long ways out). I actually took a longer 5mi roundabout route which avoided freeway on-ramp crossings and was primarily riding in the bike lane most of the time. But ironically, this turned out to be stressful with all the cars on the road (the main street I was riding down gets super busy especially around a certain intersection). Additionally, they had a tree-trimming crew w/ wood-chipper blocking part of the bike lane, so getting around that was pretty scary with cars whizzing by. I definitely have super-low confidence in my street riding but that didn't help one bit.
I sympathize. I just learned how to ride a bike for the first time in my life less than two months ago and fear of the road is something I've had to get over. I have to ride through a 2-lane/direction street to get to any mixed-use trails, which isn't ideal but gave me a taste of sharing the road with cars without too much traffic.
What I'm training for now is the final stretch of my commute to work, which is a 2-3 lane/direction street that can be quite busy. That's why I got a mirror for the bike. My colleagues say I need to improve on my 13.5 mph top speed
to survive that stretch - it'll basically be a sprint when I get to that street.
I hit the ground with pedals a lot more on turns when I was still in the early stages learning how to ride my bike. The advice to coast and lean (but not too much - not overthinking it helps) works for me.
I also found that saddle height really does make a difference, even on my bike, which is a hybrid/commuter bike, not a road racer. I had a guy at a LBS check out the saddle height and it turns out the seat was like an inch or two too low. After the height correction, it got a lot easier to go faster, due to being able to extend my legs more on the pedal stroke. My top speed is now over 20mph, and I still haven't sprinted on my top gear. It might not boost your speed to Tour De France level, but it wouldn't hurt to check.