First for newby's, I've lived probably more of my Adult life in the City of Melbourne. I lived there for close to 15 years but did move there from a regional city that used to be much smaller than it is now, which of course is Bendigo, Central Victoria. In that time I still had family living in the regionally area so kept in touch with what happens in the country.
Now of course I live just out side of Leeton which is a large regional town. What I have noticed of the years is the cycling commitments and advantages/disadvantages are completely different. Something which is understandably over looked by people who live most of there lives in the cities.
I believe that cycling on holidays in the country is again different then commuting and riding permanently in country areas. I'll list several reason I believe that.
1. Commuting is the first big difference, our workplace's are usually smaller and don't have the room for bike storage and showers in a lot of case's. Distance's can also make a big impact, 20 to 40k commutes in the cities can be a good time saving, not so in most country areas. No public transport means a family living out of town must rely on cars or utes. We do have school buses but they don't cover every area and can still mean 2 or 3 kids need to be driven distance's to catch the bus. Trucks and cars travel much faster on sometimes narrow rough roads making commuting an interesting prospect not to mention letting your kids ride to school.
I'm going to split this up in to multiple posts as it's to much to read in one lot.

Martin