Where:
I ride in the midwest. Lincoln, NE to be exact. I like in suburbia, in an apartment. That means that:
* Through roads are four lanes
* Other roads never ever go through, you often have to double your trip to go by side streets.
* Occasionally, if I go North, through roads are 3 lanes and not so busy (more through roads, slower speed limits).
Atmosphere:
Lincoln really wants to be a cycling town. But there just aren't quite enough cyclists, drivers are too nice, and there are far too many MUP's and not nearly enough bike lanes.
Drivers are generally nice. Most drivers pass kindly. A few are so over careful you want to strangle them. And even fewer are complete jerks: Mostly old men who are probably still angry about Nixon.
How I ride:
I spend probably half my time on MUP's. It just so happens that I can ride MUP's from home most of the way to work. Sometimes I ride the road instead, but the MUP is just so peaceful in the morning. Mostly worth the road crossings.
The rest of my riding is split between regular city roads and highways. If I'm riding highways it's leisure riding, often with groups. We ride busy 4 lane split highways with shoulders. We also ride 2 lane highways with no shoulders: The shoulder-less highways are much nicer. Light traffic, right next to you, is preferable to the constant sound of semi's buzzing by.
On the roads I ride to the right, even in the four ways. I typically take the lane through intersections. I got sick of getting passed by cars who drive through the left turn lane on the other side of the road. If they're going to do that, when they have a collision it's going to be full head one and not a glancing blow because I'm not giving them the intersection.
On the two lane highways I generally wander. You can hear cars coming a mile away, so it's pretty relaxed most of the time. Usually I'm over to the right, but you get lazy when there's nothing reminding you to stay right.
On the MUP's I'm overly cautious. I take it slow through intersections and trust no one to see me or go the direction they look like they're going. I've grown to "on your left" more often than I used to, but I still get a few people who jump in front of me when I say it. The worst are people with dogs, and teenagers.