LittleBigMan

In medicine, some diseases are prevented by a vaccine. Vaccines
are really dead forms of the actual viruses that cause real sicknesses. So the patient is given the dead virus, he/she gets mild symptoms, but recovers quickly. After that, the body has been trained to attack and destroy the real virus (immunization.)

I once saw a woman getting help after a car wreck. She was afraid to get into a car, much less drive. Her treatment involved
getting exposed to her fears, a little bit at a time. First, they got her to touch the car, then she sat in the car, then she was driven around the parking lot, etc.

Eventually, the fear is overcome.

Spire

I'd have to say go see the thread on mirrors.

Anastasia

LittleBig & Spire:

Gradually, the fear will subside, especially with the more I am on the road. However, because I did read the thread on mirrors when I was "laid up" - I am getting a mirror which clips onto my sunglasses.

mrfix

I live in the spfld, mass area, the roads are cracked, bumpy and full of holes, and covered with sand most of the year. I look at it this way. They build character.

LittleBigMan

What kind of bike do you ride on this?

I have a mix around here. Funny thing is, the roads specially marked, "Bike Route," have ruts big enough to swallow you whole. "Bermuda Bike Triangle." I'm talking NO attempt to patch some of these.

The paradox is, "Bike Routes" are supposed to be for the less experienced cyclist who can't really pick out his own favorite route, but only the bravest, most experienced cyclist dare tackle these--in fact, you'd better do a slow trial run to memorize the pavement.

What bozo designated these, "Bike Routes?" Probably someone
following a carefully orchestrated plan to eliminate all commuting cyclists through, "accidents," so they can come back and say, "See, we told you cycling on the street was dangerous!"

Use some of that useless bikepath pavement to fill in those monsters!

Maelstrom 

They aren't. But really everyone out here offroads anyways. We don't really need roads ..

Except those dang tourists.

Amir R. Pakdel

Maelstrom! You are in BC? Cool! But do you actually live in Whistler year around? Haha, I didn't think there was anyone rich enough to do that. . I live in Westwood Plateau, Coquitlam.

Anyways, here in the Vancouver area the roads range from okay-ish to ideal. There are not really that many bad places. On the busy roads where I live, the road themselves are okay so are the drivers, but due to whatever reason, trucks go by a lot and it's very unsettling as some of them easily thow me off a foot with their drag wind.

Vancouver has many bike routes, but not so many bike "lanes". By that I mean you will find a lot of streets with warning signs that tell drives that this street is shared by bikers. Actually these are all over Vancouver, which means you can discover the whole city on these bike routes. Mostly it is around the campuses that there are specific bike lanes.

But as Maelstorm said, in BC most will go off-road because of the one of the kind trails we have, but the roads are good too.

Maelstrom 

Yep year round. Been up here over a year now. Just gotten into the good riding now. Spent most of my life in Ontario but really it doesn't compare, so I feel like a rookie again

You ride in vancouver. Thats sheer suicide. The rodes might be good but no one knows how to drive

Amir R. Pakdel

Nah, the drivers are okay.

Well there is one common problem... I don't mean any offense to them, but the Asian immigrant population is very high in Vancouver, and I think because back home most of them are used to riding on the right side of car, they often do silly things and don't really focus well enough on the road.

But that's a minor problem. I have not actually ridden in Vancouver main area itself, but rather in Coquitlam, Port Moody, Burnaby, and west areas. But I hear downtown is actually pretty good too for biking.