Doing it alone?

Phonk7

Hi, at the moment i ride 1-2 times a week with either a mate (or three) or sometimes my dad or uncle. None of these though are as into biking as me at the moment and cant really be bothered to go more than once a week, even when they do go i have to wait about 2-3 minutes on each descent. I feel that to progress my riding a little more i will have to go out more often and ride by myself.
I ride natural trails and am pretty scared (im a wuss lol ) about falling off and hurting myself without anyone there to help me out
Does anyone in the forum ride by themselves?

ride_whenever

yup, take a phone and let someone know your route and how long you expect to be, let them know if your going to take longer.

Basic first aid kit and the knowledge to deal with injuries is also a must.


Other than that it's fine.

.blitz

Phonk7 wrote:

Does anyone in the forum ride by themselves?

I am hopeless at compromising and I like to go where I want, when I want, so I traded companionship for freedom a long time ago.

I regularly ride alone at night and I've done solo rides in Wales & Scotland. There's always somebody about anyway, just to exchange a bit of banter.

Stoo61

I'm by myself 95% of the time. I've had a couple of bad falls nothing thats stopped me hobbling away though. Just have your mobile close at hand.

Phonk7

Thanks alot guys, think ill be going riding more often from now on

El Capitano

I ride alone quite a lot of the time. Always carry a mobile phone, usually let Mrs C know how long I'm likely to be and a rough route of where I'm going. I carry 2 spare inner tubes, tools, pump, emergency food (I'm a diabetic), waterproofs and a space blanket. Make sure your bikes in tip-top condition before any ride as well.

bomberesque

riding alone shouldn't be a problem so long as you don't get carried away with yourself.

Another option though is to scout around for a local club and join up with them.. There must be loads up in N Wales.

If you can't find one but still want to ride with a group, do what a friend of mine did and start one

joshtp

almost all my riding is alone, very little of my riding is with other people, most of my riding budies live either a long way away, or are busy much of the time.... (its a sob story...) so i ride alone alot, while riding with friends is nice, riding alone is great, you can do what you want, at your pace, and it has a kinid of "soul" feeling, you can think alot...

Steve_F

I just make sure I stick to trail centres if riding on my own as it's almost guaranteed that someone will be along fairly soon.

That didn't seem to work though in Golspie at 8 in the morning as I didn't see another sole until I finished. That seriously dented my confidence and stopped me trying a lot I usually would!

Phonk7

and it has a kinid of "soul" feeling, you can think alot...
In the few rides i have done alone i can second that

Phonk7

and it has a kinid of "soul" feeling, you can think alot...
In the few rides i have done alone i can second that

weeksy59

I'm happy riding XC alone. However i don't think i'd be doing Afan on my own.

cat_with_no_tail

Due to being self employed, I often find that when I am able to go for a ride, most other people are at work (I'll be leaving mine at 7am tomorrow).

I much prefer riding on my own. You can go at your own pace, make the ride longer/shorter as you please, stop when you want and so on.

Friends are over rated, riding alone ftw!

Surf-Matt

Similar to CWNT.

If I only rode in groups, I'd almost never go out!

I prefer my own company and I think others prefer it that way too...

Phonk7

Surf-Matt wrote:

Similar to CWNT.

If I only rode in groups, I'd almost never go out!

I prefer my own company and I think others prefer it that way too...

Surely thats not true

cloudynights

i ride alone at night,just cause i find it easy just to set off and come back when im ready,
just use routes i know well ,take a waterproof mobile phone plenty of spares for the bike, warm jumper if needed and im fine, get good lights and just a bit of commen sense when riding and theres no problem
andy

ravey1981

I ride on my own quite a lot too...I don't take the same risks when I'm alone though...

chris_sw

I also ride alone the vast majority of my rides. I just bring along a multi-tool, couple of spare tubes, OS map, phone and wallet. Never had any offs that I haven't been able to ride away from, although I did manage to get lost this morning riding a new route :oops: It added about 3 miles to my trip but it all worked out in the end!

cat_with_no_tail

cloudynights wrote:

i ride alone at night,just cause I'm hideously ugly and when out in daylight small children see me and vomit

FIXED!


I DON'T KNOW THIS PERSON, HE MAY OR MAY NOT BE A MASSIVE BAG OF UGLY, THE COMMENT ABOVE WAS MADE IN JEST

dave_hill

Phonk7 wrote:

I ride natural trails and am pretty scared (im a wuss lol ) about falling off and hurting myself without anyone there to help me out. Does anyone in the forum ride by themselves?

There's two ways of looking at this - you can either get a step-ladder, get over yourself and MTFU; or you can give up now.

I ride alone virtually all the time, for many reasons, the top three of which are - 1) I'm pathologically anti-social; 2) I'm incredibly selfish and don't want to have to think about anybody else but me; and 3) I don't have to listen to everybody else whinging and talking bollocks.

The thing is you've got to have a certain mind set to go riding alone - if the countryside scares you, or you worry about hurting yourself and mummy not being there to kiss it better, then the battle is half lost already. You have to be confident in your own abilities, not only as a cyclist but also as an outdoorsman/woman; and you have to know that when you're on your own you can't take stupid risks.

It's very simple really - tell someone where you're going, how long you expect to be (with a margin of error) and what your contingency plan is if it all goes to c0ck (why can't I type "C0CK", it's a prefectly acceptable word...). Be prepared - take everything you'll need for the trip. And if you're wondering how much stuff is enough, it's generally the case that if you don't take something, you will need it. And don't ride outside your own abilities - if in doubt, DON'T DO IT. He who fights and runs away lives to fight another day...