Could I hear about some times you biked to work/school/errands and didn't die? It could be close calls if you'd like to relate the drama, or beautiful easy rides, or perfectly boring non-eventful rides.
I'm feeling inundated by bad news stories. Seems like for every 1 good-news type article about a relatively senior citizen who still bikes, there are 10 articles linked about a cyclist dying on the road.
I know the statistics are favorable. I know that the chances of dying on any particular ride are small, and probably about the same as by car. I feel safer on my bike than in my car (I can see more, hear more, move more freely). Still, it helps to have external stories of other people's experience to make the abstract more concrete.
I'm the only bike commuter in my social group at work and school. In my office of about 100 people, only 2 other people even occasionally bike to work. Generally the clown car drivers in the office are polite, but eventually see fit to ask me if I heard about that one biker in the news that died (no, I didn't, since I don't watch news, because then I too might fear to step outside my door every morning).
Here's my story of a particularly nice ride after about 100 uneventful rides: normal morning commute to class, merging to turn left across 3 lanes of 55mph traffic. People were understanding and gave space and even one guy rolled down his window and gave me a thumbs up and a sincere sounding "nice move" (I'll admit I did a double take...the thumb is not the finger I expected to see).