Riding alone - yay or nay?

Stoo61

Pretty much ride alone the whole time. None of my good friends are really into it or in the area, nae skin off my nose. Nice to have a pals sometimes but it means im no waiting on anyone half the time.

Raymondavalon

Depends..

On April 26th last year I broke my right leg in 6 places riding, a major off and it was a compound fracture too (as in bone hanging out the side) Fortunately I wasn't alone and the guy I was with had a basic idea of the area we were in. We had quite a hard time explaining our bearings to the 999 operator. I ended up being carried to a road where the ambulance eventually found us - took them over an hour to reach us (fortunately I have a military medical background and pushed the tibia back into the leg to protect the bone - it was an instinctive). The leg's 100% now thanks to a very good doctor and surgical team at Frenchay Hospital in Bristol

If ride with a group or a mate I'll ride red/black routes without any second thought at all
Now when riding solo I tend to stick to forest roads and firebreaks, I do like exploring alone, but I wont take on anything too extreme - as in uncharted and challenging singletrack or major downhills or drop offs.

I did an event two weeks back and at certain times in some places I felt a little isolated (because I was sooo far behind :oops: ), but as I had checked in and was assigned an official entry you do have that peace of mind that if you do find a mantrap and go missing, you will (hopefully) be found
Ah, I always carry a mobile phone and let at least one person know I am out and about..

Naveed

I've narrowed my riding alone criteria down and it goes something like this.

It's okay to ride alone when:
- You ride familiar trails
- wear extra protection (ff and knee pads)
- tell someone where you are and have your mobile
- Don't venture off trail
- Don't experiment (sounds boring but true when alone)
- make sure your bike is in top nick and won't throw up any surprises su

uk_mr_brownstone

I often ride alone but take it easy

This AM I planned a long solo ride but forgot my phone, so went home and altered the route as I felt I needed the phone

carbonfibre

Good list.

Dancake

(fortunately I have a military medical background and pushed the tibia back into the leg to protect the bone - it was an instinctive)

lol i would have fainted way before then..nice one

dav1

I often ride alone, My friends art always about when I am (busy weekends where spare time doesn't overlap) plus my rides to work are almost always solo.

I just go a bit easier, keep well inside my comfort zone.

Without riding alone id get nowhere near as much riding in as I would like

gaz047

ride on my own quite a lot.
most of riding on your own comes down to common sense ie doing a new route with poor navigational skills = not a good idea (especially if you don't even own a compass let alone how to use it! same goes for proper maps).
all you need to ride comfortably on your own,
-right gear
-common sense
-basic first aid skills
-let someone know where your riding

if doing a new route or one which you aren't 100% on,
-basic nav skills ie take a bearing/ back bearing, orientating the map, understanding contours etc (you can easilly learn to map read if not, and new skills will improve your confidence)

still not sure, then do that route when your with someone who is.
ray "pushed the tibia back into the leg to protect the bone " :shock: ouch!

deffler

I ride alone most of the time. Not many of my friends are into bikes and Ive only recently become interested.
I dont do any hardcore riding, chucking myself about or off mountains or anything. Most places I go are fairly tame. I ride for fitness, clear my mind and commute off road to work. I carry sensible things I may need if anything happens.

naefearjustbeer

I ride by myself, my work pattern and family life means I have time during the day midweek but very little evening and weekend time available to ride. So it would make it difficult to hook up with other riders. Also the fact that i don't actually know anyone that rides a mountain bike where they are designed to be ridden. I do try to take care though.



However this ride did worry me a bit when I realised how high the cliffs were!

Tel39

^^^^^^ Awesome view fella! Where are those cliffs?

jedi_master

Ride by my self sometimes but I normally will let someone know roughly where I will be. Night time ride though is a different kettle though, I only ride off at night with someone else.

naefearjustbeer

Tel39 wrote:

^^^^^^ Awesome view fella! Where are those cliffs?

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?hl=en& ... 7&t=h&z=12

Found the above link and have been exploring the routes that the guy has posted and they have been good so far!

passout

Mancunianfightingcat wrote:

I often ride alone. I get a week day off every week but work most weekends. I do have riding buddies who I go out with too, but, if the weather's good like it was yesterday, I ain't going to sit at home waiting for them to finish work!
I did about 25 miles yesterday, 12 on road and 13 off road. I didn't see a single person on the off road bits and I thoroughly enjoyed being on my own with just my thoughts and the views!

Fighting Cat: Where is this? Looks familiar.

I ride alone a fair bit but don't take many risks i.e. take it steady on the descents.

.blitz

I always ride alone but I usually tell mrs.blitz where I'm going. "You've been where? But you've only been out 3 hours!"

fred1star

DrWorm wrote:

Mancunianfightingcat wrote:

Lovely trig point, do you have the grid ref?

Watch out its a trig point geek

Did 35 miles across Dartmoor last week only the sheep for company.

forgotrafe

I often ride alone. I use my iphone as a tracker so if it got to the point where my wife was worried, she can go to home PC and see my last known position.

LAW4778

Through no fault of my own i ride alone as none of my mates are into it although there is one who is thinking of getting a bike but he's a bit of a lazy sod so i don't think i will, the only thing i don't like about riding on my own is i would love to visit some trail centres but don't think it is something i would like to do on my own.

Kiblams

LAW4778 wrote:

Through no fault of my own i ride alone as none of my mates are into it although there is one who is thinking of getting a bike but he's a bit of a lazy sod so i don't think i will, the only thing i don't like about riding on my own is i would love to visit some trail centres but don't think it is something i would like to do on my own.

Exactly how I would describe my biking situation. Though I am going to visit my bro and he has recently got into biking, but he lives too far to do it regularly.

REMF

ride on my own occasionally.

prefer to ride with company, but sometimes Nant-Y-Arian calls to me.

Willrideforcake

Usually ride on my own, but that's because I don't have any friends (!). Happy to ride with others, but usually solo - I like to go at my own pace. This applies to xc as well as trail centres.

paul.skibum

Alone or with friends - in UK most places I'd ride alone - certainly Peaks and the like although I'd probably err on the side of caution when assessing how to ride something.

I have ridden alone in Alps - again I tended to err on the cautious/ride like a girl side of things there!

My mates tend to be the followers, they never bother planning a route and just look to me to do it or know the way which is fine most of the time. I went with two friends in Peaks recently and wished I was alone.......speed was not our watchword that day......

dazoo666

I ride on my own most of the time. Never had a problem (yet). Funnilly enough the times I have come off my bike have been when I have been out with a friend. Wether it's because I feel I can push myself a little more knowing i'm in company :shock: