How do I stop being a pussy riding on the road. >riding nervously

get more flat tires

then realize, you get so many flats because crap on the road collects on the shoulders

start riding further to the left

also

keep riding in the gutter till your wheel gets jammed into a storm drain grate and wrecks your bike

buy a new bike and start riding in the road instead

>>1066555
>How do I stop being a pussy
I don't think anyone can help you with that

A helmet mirror makes me feel more comfortable on the road. Less shoulder checking which spooks drivers / causes me to drift left. Drivers always assume you are turning if you look back to check traffic. This makes them slow down and hang behind you instead of just passing.

Also start looking at local maps and plan more comfortable routes. Avoid left turns at wide busy multi-lane roads. Pick secondary roads that are still decently wide with few stop signs. I found a lot of nice quiet roads when I stopped thinking like a driver.

Watch these animations, they're really good.

http://commuteorlando.com/wordpress/animations/lane-control/

http://commuteorlando.com/wordpress/animations/

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>>1066565
Not OP. But I picked up cycling to help with anxiety. Found that it made me more anxious before a ride thanks to roads. This helps a lot, so thanks.

I ride with traffic, even if I'm going slow than they are. Though I don't give a fcuk about my life adn look forward to the day when I finally have the balls to end it.

>>1066569
This was unironnically the most helpful post

Just take the lane and keep up with traffic. I find that I can keep up with city traffic most of the time due to red lights.

I only ride in the early mornings between 1-5 am. Lots of hills around here and I feel like a real asshole if I'm holding people up doing 10mph. No bike lanes here and every road is a two lane with no passing.

>>1066569
this
I been hit by a car on the smaller streets because drivers get too complacent when there's no traffic to worry about

>>1066555
>Wasting perfectly good trips on a thread like this one
That fact aside..

The solution to your problem is simple: "Just do it".
You can't control anyone but yourself.
Ride safely, keeping the bike where it belongs (i.e., as far to the right on the pavement as you can get), and focus your attention on what YOU are doing, while keeping a 'weather eye' out for what the traffic is doing. Remember that even though some drivers are assholes, screaming obscenities out their windows, they're not going to intentionally hit you, they're just being faggots and are too much of a coward to actually be violent to someone else (i.e., their 'bark is worse than their bite').

You also have to realize this: No matter what you do, you ride long enough, *eventually* you're going to have some sort of a mishap, whether it involves another vehicle or not. It's inevitable. In other words: there is inherent risk involved in riding a bicycle. If you can't accept that fact, then you have no business riding a bike in the first place, because your perpetual nervousness takes so much of your attention away from riding the bike safely and competently that you'll constantly be a danger to yourself, and to others.

Also, go ride with groups. There's safety in numbers, and other, more experienced riders will give you helpful hints, teach you necessary skills, and distract you from yourself and your anxiety, until you're inherently confident enough that you get over being nervous when riding on public roads and can ride alone comfortably.

Also, I'm going to assume you're a young guy still, and as such are overall inexperienced in quite a few things. You might not even have a drivers license yourself yet, which you may not think is relevant here, but it is. You know what a driver knows, you'll know in the back of your mind what they're thinking. Believe it or not that makes it easier.

>>1066617
>tfw want to ride with a group but afraid youre too new and slow to keep up

>>1067116

You'll find beginners and slow groups. Ask your lbs.

>>1066617
After I spent some time behind wheel I got much more nervous on the road, biking. Realized just how oblivious drivers are to outside. Projecting? Probably a little. So much restricted visibility. Let alone hearing.

I guess I try to make my movements very overt when I'm in the road now, and avoid the road when possible.

>>1067189
Yep. Like, "look over shoulder three times before a lane change". Retarded cagers can't seem to grasp that, yes, I see you, and, yes, I know you have a fucking brake pedal, so when we're both pulling up to this red, and I need to make a left, and you have 15 seconds before you're at the light, I KNOW you can lift your lead foot off the gas for long enough to not run over me"

Just treat drivers like the brain-dead animals that they are. Like you're signaling to a cow or a particularly stupid dog. Otherwise they'll see you shifting out of the bike lane to avoid the illegally parked car and you may be 500 feet ahead with a 25mph speed limit but they'll go ballistic on the horn and start swearing at you at the next light if you don't do the "three times check behind you" trick, because they legitimately can't conceive of the possibility that you can see them, and in their pea brains they figured "well, what if he didn't see me and I didn't see him", because in their minds, situational awareness is like, that extra credit assignment that only geeks, nerds, and asian kids actually bother with.

>>1066560
Get run over by cars - and deserve it.

While we're on the subject, where do you guys ride when you're making a left turn? Do you take the center of the lane and make people wait or hug the line and let people pass on the right?

>>1067241
Just act like a car and take the turn lane if it's clear behind you

>>1067241
take the turn lane a half block before the light, no sudden moves, rotate your head to show intent (cagers don't understand hand signals which you should still do but not rely on hand signals alone)

>>1066555
I feel just like that inside and have to practically pry myself out of the house, but once I get on the bike I don't even care anymore. What the fuck

I've been riding at night recently.

>be blinded by people that leave high beams and fog lights on at all times
Because why turn those off for a cyclist?

>that guy that gets right on your ass and starts flashing his high beams
I didn't even bother turning my head and didn't have to, his lights were more than bright enough to see from in front of my bike. What he expected me to do when I was already a half foot from the curb, I don't know.

>lanes are wide enough for big SUVs
>cagers still have two wheels over the double yellow lines
At this point I think they're doing it on purpose to fuck with me because I almost never see driving this consistently bad off of the bike.

And it's always white trash in a pick up truck, every time.

>>1067241
depends on the intersection. sometimes i will take the pedestrian crossing and then j-walk (ride) across the other side (if its clear)

>>1066555
Are you wearing a helmet? Maybe you wouldn't be so afraid of getting hit if you knew your shit was protected

>>1067116
If you are in the UK look up "ctc try cycling".

>>1066555
>>riding nervously in the gutter
Enjoy dying

Fug, I'm sitting here looking at the traffic on google maps trying to find empty roads instead of riding my bike. Everywhere is busy.

>>1066555
I'm guessing you're not in the UK like me but you can do something equivalent.

What I did was went and spent a month in London staying with my step-sister and rode everywhere. Did some touristy stuff alongside whatever temp work I could get to keep me going.

Anyway, go spend a week or two riding in the city where there are lots of other cyclists.

>>1066555
I just plead with every car that might run me over and I say to myself "please don't kill me"

Is it ever acceptable to ride a road bike in lycra on the sidewalk when it's illegal but there are no bike lanes?

>>1070498
Yes, if you are 12 and under it is ok. But you are required to wear a helmet.

>>1070500
Asking because I saw a guy doing it today. DESU it was next to a skinny two lane road I'm afraid to ride on, but even so if I ever did go on the sidewalk and someone else on a bike was on the road and passed me I'd have to kms.

I started open carrying a pistol on the left side of my back and suddenly havent had a single issue with drivers since then

>>1067241
i actually ride on the far right of the lane really wide and let them pass me on the inside

>>1066565
That's a really nice resource. I frequently ride pretty far on the right either close to the curb or close to parked cars in order to give cars as much space as possible so we can both use the road.

This is saying that instead of doing that, I should ride closer to the middle of the lane when possible obstructions (parked cars, a narrow shoulder, etc) are nearby, basically just acting like a slow car?

>>1067116
I'm getting people together, new and experienced.
I want to help those less experienced than me to get better, healthier and to enjoy biking.
It's mostly friends and coworkers I've convinced to try biking/get more into it.
I'm sure you could find the same, not everyone wants to go full power in a group/social setting. It's not usually a race.

>>1070498
Glad nobody enforces that where I live.
55mph road on a hill by my workplace isn't as safe as the sidewalk.

>>1067201
Stick your left arm out to signal a lane change you autist.

How do I become one of those alpha courier fixie cyclists who have a one to one connection with the bike? Just look how he uses the bike as a tool, look how he controls it

I feel like a clumsy slow fuck
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYs8InedvWk

>>1070771
all i see is a stupid fuck, risking the life of himself and others.

Ride on side streets more, riding on main roads can really just suck cock mosthe of the time.

How do people even ride on the shoulder of a highway? What do you do when the shoulder changes into a right turn only lane?

I don't recommend driving on busy roads. I live on the coast and have an optional route through the commercial beach district but I avoid it like the plague. The route I take has bike lanes (30mph) up until road changes direction and a massive wide 3 lane with shoulder (45mph but spacious). If I went the beach path I'd be turning my head every block, nuh-uh.

Basically, if you don't feel comfortable, don't drive there.

>>1066555
Personally I welcome death

>>1071562
This

>>1066555
do it on Sundays because there less traffic

>>1066555
do it more often

>>1066555
Keep riding. Eventually you'll get used to it and won't or care as much

then you'll become stone cold and jaded, cursing cagers and constantly ready for a dumb shit to swing a left infront of you without looking

then you'll get your kicks by lanesplitting and weaving around traffic like a dipshit

>>1070771
They ride like that because they ride for a living, hours every day. Riding, handling the bike, is just second nature They're super confident not just on the bike, but knowing how to cheese signals, when you can run a red and when you shouldn't, and how to run it.

>>1066555
Start to hate all cagers.

Road bike:
>constant worry about passing cars
>it's either ride on high-traffic smooth roads or feel every bump and crack on local road
>fast and agile as fuck though

MTB:
>can go anywhere, fatter tires make the ride much more comfortable
>can avoid traffic by going off-road
>noticeably slower

Even though I started with road cycling, after buying myself a decent hardtail I'm definitely seeing the advantages of it and riding road bike less. Being almost killed because a car was passing an oncoming car and not giving a fuck about me (barely squeezed through) doesn't help either.

>>1073381
I solved this problem by getting cheap cross bike with 28'' wheels and relatively smooth tires. It's fast enough and if there is a need I can go off road with it too. It has fenders as well, so weather is no longer an issue.

I used to commute on a road bike, but now I see how uncomfortable and inconvenient it has been at times.

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>>1070847
you do this

>>1073419
They were cycling on a dual carriageway, that's asking for trouble. Avoid roads that trucks use.

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get off the road retard your going to get run over!
no really why are you guys allowed on the road ?

>>1073419
even though the truckdriver is a whoreson in this case, driving on a highway with a bike is dumb as fuck.

Recognize first that no matter how pissed at you people are, only a psychopath would intentionally hit you with their car. The odds of that happening are as likely as being killed by a psychopath in any setting, so it's not a concern.

With that out of the way, realize that the only way you're going to be hit is if someone doesn't see you. Now you have the mental framework to come to the realization that riding in the middle of a lane, no matter how much it pisses people off, is in fact the safest place to be due to the better visibility drivers have of you.

>>1066583
this. I've found that sometimes I can beat traffic on a congested enough road with frequent red lights if I run the red and sprint across the open road to the next red.

>>1067161
>lbs meme
Local bike shops are almost all heaping piles of shit filled with pretentious douchebags.

>>1067241
I don't know that I've ever waited for a left turn in a regular traffic lane. I either take the lane in a suicide or left turn lane, or I wait for a gap and swoop across the whole road.

>>1067280
>riding in the gutter
>ever
Top cuck.

>>1070498
I instantly lose all respect for any non-child riding their bike on the sidewalk for any extended period of time.

>>1066566
Where did you hear cycling helps anxiety...moron

>>1073427
Because most cities aren't smart enough to plan for bicycles as well as cars and don't put in bike lanes or bike paths forcing us to ride with you impatient, dangerous, retards.

>>1066555
be bright and put your lights to flashy mode

only ride on roads with a shoulder

if there is no shoulder, take more of the road than you really need, which will force cars to slow down and pass you correctly

My answer is don't why would you ride where there is shit air and you are risking a dumb death every time you ride. I say get a mountain bike and go for a ride on some trails.