Amen to that! I’m in a rural area and I wouldn’t bike in my small town. I stick to back country roads if I ride on the road but I mostly ride trails on a mountain bike.
I spend as much time biking on a sidewalk as the street (where I’m supposed to be). How often you see people on a sidewalk in a small town? Once every 1000 feet or so except in business area.
“Amen to that! I’m in a rural area and I wouldn’t bike in my small town. I stick to back country roads if I ride on the road but I mostly ride trails on a mountain bike.”
One of our adult 50 something off springs is basically an addicted bike rider.
He lives in a tourist county where there are wineries, great restaurants, beer brewing business and basically any business with food serves some type of alcohol to the tourists.
When he first moved to this so called small eden, he tried to ride his road bike to and from work. After a few close calls, he and some friends started driving to great and basically safe rural bike paths during the lunch hour of after work. Where they ride, no cars/trucks/pickups are allowed. Then, after their rides, load their bikes back on their vehicles and drive home or back to work.