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Notes -
I'll cop to just basically being pretty soft about it. I don't think the objective risk level is all that high. People get killed around here occasionally, but it's usually either their fault or at least substantially avoidable. The risk-tolerance is less as an objective matter (I wouldn't be down for road trips in the car if I was really that concerned) and more feeling a personal sense of vulnerability on the bike that I just don't like.
I've had a couple incidents that freaked me out where I realized I'd have very little control over living or dying, which I think might have put that seed in my head; on a rural road, guy takes a left turn at the T in front of me unreasonably fast, comes across my lane at a short angle doing about 50 MPH head-on, I was lucky to bail to the side of the road in time. A big dude on a Harley pulled up at the stop sign next to me after seeing it to check and make sure I wasn't too rattled by it. I know these things are low probability, but I can't get it out of my head.
Don't get me wrong, if someone wants to grab the bikes to head over to trivia night a couple miles away, that's cool, I'm not paranoid about something relaxed and easy. If some buddies want to do a little lake loop ride (~12 miles), I'm down. It's the combination of speed and open roads for long rides that just kind of gets in my head.
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