Thanks everyone for the welcomes and advice.
Quote:
Originally Posted by CaliGrrl
Congrats on your new bike! You've got the same year bike I do, 2006. 
As far as being in traffic, learn to predict what people might do, and you start to develop that sense of which car's going to do something stupid. Look at everything, all the time, not from paranoia, but awareness. You start to see patterns in traffic, which group is moving where, and what the general trend is. You can do this kind of watching whether you're driving or riding.
Assume you're invisible on the bike. How do you find the gaps in traffic, so you have a place to go where you're away from the spaces where cars can hurt you. I've become much more aware of when cars can't see me than I had been before. Blind spots, trees blocking their view, being hidden behind other vehicles, that kind of thing. If you can't see their eyes, you *know* they don't see you.
And yes, use the back roads. More fun, less traffic.
Some of this is just getting used to being on the bike in traffic. My first few times out on the big roads? Nerve-wracking. Now? Not so bad. Well, other than that highways aren't all that much fun. Straight and boring. But I don't mind dealing with traffic so much.
Maybe you can meet up with one or two other riders and go out on a fun road. It sometimes helps your visibility to have company. Plus it's more fun to ride with friends!
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Great advice. I'm definately learning now how to better predict the actions of drivers around me. I think that will be the most important thing in avoiding getting hurt. Which even as much as some riders seem to love dangerous situations, I don't think anyone wants to get hurt doing this and then be messed up for life, I hope not anyway. I find riding is making me a much more attentive driver as well, I watch out for other people and exactly what they are doing/might do more now. Still sketchy out here with these people though. I don't long to feel what a 4000lb town car feels like hitting me at 50mph, lol.