I think the biggest mistake newbies make, and the one that keeps most people from riding a bicycle to work, is to look at routes with "car eyes". We have been trained to take the most direct route to work in our cars. Usually this is via a high speed (or moderate speed) route. For experienced cyclists these routes might be okay but for most people starting out, they are frightening! Train yourself to look at routes the way you would look at them for a pleasant ride, even when you are driving your car. Look for short cuts through parks, along greenways, through quiet neighborhoods. Often times these can be even faster than by car. Also look for parallel routes.

For example, Denver is set up on a grid system. Most of our streets (with the exception of Downtown), are east/west or north/south. The suburbs get goofy but we won't worry about them. If I am driving around and I want to go west from my house, I can get on 38th Ave. 38th is a 4 lane road with a center turn lane. Fairly high traffic count without much shoulder. It's not a lot of fun to drive or ride. It also has stoplights about every 3 blocks.

But, if I go 6 blocks further south to 32nd Ave, the road is 2 lanes, low traffic count, wide parking lane that is seldom used (because it's not wide enough and you lose mirrors if you park there ) and, in the same 4 or 5 mile distance that 38th has 15 to 20 stoplights, 32nd has 4.

But go explore on the weekends if you can.