In other words, let's do everything possible to discourage cycling as a viable means of transportation and relegate it to recreational status only, because America isn't fat enough and doesn't produce enough greenhouse emissions as it is.
The city I live in, Calgary, has an excellent network of bike pathways. In general, they're in much better repair - because of the cold climate Calgary roads have a lot of potholes and patchwork. So I would MUCH rather be on the pathways if they'll get me where I want to go... but they don't go everywhere, and in many cases they're a pretty significant detour because they're set up to let you ride by the river and through XYZ park. So much of the time, you're stuck on the roads, which rarely have bike lanes.
Because of the climate, which even when it's not cold is dry, roads get a lot of dirt and gravel buildup towards the edges and on a 700cc road tire with more or less no tread it's easy to fuck yourself up, particularly given that buried in that dust and gravel is, for all I know, a broken beer bottle (I flatted yesterday on a shard of glass some useless piece of shit provided for me). Not to mention there seems to be a global epidemic of stupidity whereby everyone is deathly afraid of getting hit by cars but no one is at all afraid of being hit by a bike travelling at 25mph, as if that won't kill you or put your car in the shop for a few grand just as easily as the honda civic you're so careful to avoid. Basically, I live in one of the best places to ride a bike as transport you're going to find, and it's still a nightmare at times.
Fact is I'm usually travelling at a good enough speed that I'm pretty easy to negotiate and like most cyclists will try to get out of the way where there's somewhere safe to ride off to the side. But calm the fuck down with your "oh my god I can't believe I'm travelling 20mph below what I'd like to be doing for these 15 seconds" bullshit. Look in the mirror, you're an asshole.
