I went for a 42 mile ride mid day today. Except for a 2 mile portion of the MUP, all was two lane country road. None with shoulders. Had probably 100 or more cars pass me. Only one was a idiot. They felt the need to blow their horn as they passed me going up a steep hill that I'd consider a blind curve for motor vehicle speeds. Don't know whether they honked because they were annoyed or they wanted to be sure I was aware of their presence. If they only knew, I could hear them coming at least a quarter mile away.

But a very enjoyable ride. On the whole, the traffic that seemed to respect and take particular care when passing were the commercial vehicles. Particularly the dump truck. I've always wondered it the owner of that gravel company was a cyclist to. If so, maybe he's set his driver's straight on how to behave around cyclists. I don't see so many lately, but those roads use to be full of cyclist's all the time.

Anyway, I guess the gist of this or take-away for you is that you shouldn't fear the road. No one wants to run you over and ruin their day. Some won't care about you, but for sure they care about how well their day goes. And running you over won't make their day good at all. So the more you get out there, the more roads you'll find you can ride.

Not that you should ride with abandon or without caution. But I've found it's not nearly as bad as many make it out to be. Or else they just have crazies living in their area!