bike ride anyone?

i recently had my first 'road biking' experience and i have to say it was mildly terrifying. i am from a small town in the mountains and my biking experience consists of puddle jumping after summer thunderstorms in my quiet neighborhood or serious mountain biking on dirt trails. neither of these instances involve such obstacles as cars, other bikers, pavement, or roadkill squirrels. after moving to the very bike friendly city of portland and gas prices soaring well above $3 a gallon i've decided to take my heavy duty mountain bike to the streets. yesterday afternoon after turning in a term paper and the 20+ library books that have been cluttering my desk for the past 2 months i decided i would go for a bike ride since it was such a nice day {portland talk for mostly cloudy and not raining}. i live in a pretty calm neighborhood with a main street a few blocks away. on said main street is a small coffee shop perfect for a break and some reading. so off i go. i managed to take empty back streets to the main road where i only had to ride about 500 yards and then cross the busy intersection, only after being passed up by half a dozen 'serious' bikers. it probably wasn't the best idea to do this at 5 pm on a friday but anyways off i went. then i came to the stop sign and had to make a right onto the busy thoroughfare. as car after car whizzed past me, the small bike lane seemed to become skinnier and skinnier. finally i made a break for it and made it to the sidewalk which is a safe 5 or 6 feet from passing traffic. i'm sure i pissed off more than a few motorists and pedestrians in my haphazard adventure but i honestly had no idea what i was doing. it probably doesn't help that i don't have a helmet or any reflectors on my bike but that's beside the point. then i got to the intersection and sat there like an idiot waiting for the walk signal because i was too afraid to go with the traffic. so after more than a few near heart attacks i arrive at the coffee shop to enjoy my afternoon, at least until the ride home. maybe i'll stick to the dirt for a while.