The roads are 100% the worst part of cycling. It’s gotten progressively worse the past 8 years. I started cycling competitively in 2012 after running competitively all throughout college, and the run ins with cars have only gotten worse. I was lucky to be that runner turned pro cyclist for a few years. Raced in North America, Europe, Australia and Asia-has some decent success in Europe and usa.
Sadly in 2018 my career ended as I was hit by a car who ran red and almost paralyzed. Bursted vertebrae, effed up discs-put me off the sport of road cycling very very quickly. It was probably time though to be honest. The sport of road cycling has been getting progressively less funding since 2015. Probably because of all the cars and the danger of it all.
I tried to go back to running again but the joy of just being on a bike has kept me a student of it. It’s so much more fun than running even if I have a bit of a bitter taste due to the accident. I ride on trails or bike paths these days. Maybe 10-15% of my riding (1-3 hours a week) is on roads but it’s a risk I’ll take considering I used to spend 20+ hours a week on them. It’s just so hard to let go of the wind in your hair, push until you can’t anymore type feeling. And then once you think you’ve pushed hard enough you can usually always give er a bit more.
I find myself on the mountain bike a lot more, but that’s a skill set that’s taken my whole life to develop. It’s never really an easy entry for that runner who wants to just ride, but I have no doubt most runners would thoroughly enjoy it once they got the hang of it. 1 hour of mountain biking feels easily like a one hour run with some weight lifting thrown in.