New Rider - Just Got My First Bicycle....

Since 2001, over 90,000 cyclist's have joined Cycling Forums to discuss topics from general cycling to equipment, training, racing and travel or vacation destinations (especially in europe during the tour de france). We also feature an great deals in our online store, 100's of articles, classifieds and product reviews.

I'm pretty pumped. I figured I'd ride into work (11 miles) Mon/Wed/Fri. I'll give myself a week or so to build up, then I'm planning on hitting the roads...

But after reading this forum, I'm really not sure I want to. Does anyone have any hard data on the likelyhood of a serious injury for every bicycle mile ridden vs. every car mile driven?

I just want to save myself some time at the gym, riding to work would kill two birds with one stone; but form what I'm reading here it sounds like it might not be worth it. Is it just that people rarely post about all their perfectly safe trips?

I'm pretty pumped. I figured I'd ride into work (11 miles) Mon/Wed/Fri. I'll give myself a week or so to build up, then I'm planning on hitting the roads...

But after reading this forum, I'm really not sure I want to. Does anyone have any hard data on the likelyhood of a serious injury for every bicycle mile ridden vs. every car mile driven?

I just want to save myself some time at the gym, riding to work would kill two birds with one stone; but form what I'm reading here it sounds like it might not be worth it. Is it just that people rarely post about all their perfectly safe trips?
I think you answered it yourself... it basically is similar to news, "whatever bleeds, leads!"...

Yeah I actually fedel pretty confident when I ride that I will be safe. sure I have had a couple of small incidents but honestly overall I feel safer on a bike then when I am in a car. I live in a county with the highest vehicle accident rates in the whole great state of North Carolina. But when I ride I ride on some pretty busy streets and I take up most of the lane and well I feel good that I am safe. You will get some stares and some people the honk but that is part of the fun for me. I love to piss off society!