Alway alone. On road rides and tours I’ll ride with my girlf – even together we’re riding alone if you see what I mean – as in we wouldn’t want anyone with us, off-road pretty much always on my own. Have plenty of friends who ride and I enjoy meeting other cyclists along the way, but don’t want company on a ride – it would actually ruin a ride for me.

Well if there’s anyone in the Bristol, bath or south glos area looking for someone to ride with let me know

Always ride alone. Own pace, own direction. Nobody can hear you scream when you’re alone

Missus can track me on line if needs be (never cares really)

Cats care, but can’t track

All the time. No riding buddies, as they all ‘grew up’.

Just get ready, get bike out of garage and pick a direction, usually based on wind direction.

IDo have some ex-army mini-flares…the kind you fire into the air, not for going undercover in 70’s Belfast!

Mind you, if anyone is near NE42 Ican get out on occasional Saturdays!

Another one here, just dont know anybody else who rides.

Does riding with my collie count?

Yup all the time more or less. Simply cba to organise and wait around for people when i can push off from my own doorstep onto the Chase.

If I didn’t ride on my own I wouldn’t ride much. Most of my MTB riding mates are too busy with family or business, or our scedules just don’t match. When I go to the Alps they want to rag the downhill tracks whereas I prefer to get a map and explore, so I tend to be on my own for most of the day. Self preservation kicks in to ensure I don’t put myslef at too much risk.

I ride on the road with a couple of friends, but am also quite happy to go out on my own; that way I can find new routes without having to annoy friends who want to just ride fast all the time. They can benefit once I have the route sorted.

Like to ride at my own pace and do the up-hills that my mates always think we should avoid.

I’ve always got my phone and should I get a problem I cant fix, I think I could always get to somewhere and call one of my mates or family to collect me – with lots of explaining how to get there

Pretty much always alone.

Like to set my own pace and my own targets. Wouldn’t want to think I was holding someone back or vice versa. I’m fairly cautious with a relatively well developed sense of self-preservation.

Plus I love being in the hills on my own, with my own thoughts.

99% of the time, I’m a Billy no mates well not strictly true i have two mates one doesnt ride (well I havent seen him in a couple of years does he still count) and the other one is ginger so I moved to the other end of the country so i would not have to be seen with him

99% on my own, like to ride with others but usually just ride at short notice when I have a spare moment…

75% on my own. Zoe comes along every so often for a Blue pootle and I have one mate who rides and we get out together pretty infrequently. Other than that I ride solo and don’t mind it – can go where I want at whatever speed I want.

Zoe always knows where I’m heading and roughly how long I expect to be.

slainte 🙂 rob

80% on my own and night rides always alone….
I have a mountain whistle attached to my shoulder strap within access of my mouth in case of a big accident……
Never used it yet in 25 years fortunately……

used to really like riding on my own when in the UK, now I’ve moved to Canada I don’t do it too often as I’m nervous of getting eaten

I actually really miss it{riding on my own that is}

No bugger will ride with me 😥

I got quite a few mates who I ride with but not that often or they are only all available at the same time. Great but it means that I normally ride on my own. I do prefer it that way though. I don’t have to wait for anyone and not many of my mates (see any) want to do the sort of distances I want to.

I like riding for 6-7 hours at a time on a weekend and that will be actually 6-7hours riding not talking shit every 20mins and eating flapjack. When I do go on this sort of ride though it is a change from the norm and nice to catch up with people.

The safety aspect doesn’t even come into my head anymore. I tell the Mrs which route I’m doing and take a mobile.

Generally and similarly rarely know where I’m off to. Night ride solo too.

“Faffarama gabberfest” – like it, Hels!!

I reckon about 80/20 for me.. shift/weekend work means random days off. I enjoy riding with a group but like to set my own pace as well.
In fact if I didn’t ride on my own I’d be much fatter..!
I have a gps and a mobile with me.

However I think nightrides are a social thing. I’m not massively keen on being out on my own after dark.
I am a coward though…..

50/50, gotta grab a ride when I can these day (pesky kid 🙂 ).

Although if I’m on my own I spend half the time creating or testing new lines. Once I’ve built them I leave the more difficult stuff till I’m with my mates.
And that’s only because I find that the element of competion makes me do things I wouldnt do on my own…

I do the odd pre-work training ride alone, but i generally want to ride with others

There is no better way to improve your fitness or technique because there will always be someone there faster than you going up hill, or a loon which will go faster than you downhill, or take you of a bigger drops

I joined a local MTB club 12 months back and i’m so pleased i did

Not only do you get way faster, but you also learn loads of new skills & trails

A good club will have a wide range of club rides, which will generally suit your needs.

Such as a super quick ride with no stopping/chatting. A proper All Mountain ride, with silly DHs and drops, or just a good fun club ride with lots of banter, finishing with a pint

One of the great things about a good club ride is that it doesn’t matter who you are, or what you do, or how big your house is – its all about the riding, the experiences, the comradeship and what you can do with your bike

Its also good to take the piss out of people with all the gear and no idea!

Such a breath of fresh air from life in general

Although I carry a phone there’ s no phone signal on probably 50% of the Quantocks, when I broke my ankle I luckily only had to hop about 50 very painful yards to get a signal, if I was down in one of the Combes it could have beena whole different story.

Mostly on my own. Must admit I take it a bit easier on the downhills than if I’m in a group but other than that prefer it.

Yep, It’s quieter, there’s less faffing around and you can go faster without being held back, I let people know where, I’m going and carry a phone on me. And some ID in case they need to identify the body.

But I also like sociable riding as well, it’s just most of my friends now live hours away so harder to arrange rides due to that and shift work.

Tom KP

Just be sure to watch the film “127 hours” before riding

if I was down in one of the Combes it could have beena whole different story.

I think sharki found that out the hard way…

Nearly all my riding is alone. Did 60 odd road miles on my own yesterday, its a nice chance to talk to yourself/daydream.

I prefer mountainbiking with others, but with everyone having kids and other commitments it just doesn’t happen very often.

Most of time alone locally. Always when bikepacking.
I like cycling because it’s fun and exercise and outdoors etc. BUT one of the greatest things is when I’m on my bike I just relax and think of nothing.Soooooo relaxing ,a highly undervalued aspect of cycling.

I have only ever ridden alone and only ever will. Biking is strictly me time and I enjoy my own company best. I cant really understand why anyone wouldn’t want to ride alone.

I scared the crap out of myself riding alone at Golspie last year.

Torrential rain, people new I was in Scotland but not where. Only commitment I had was riding with someone the next day.

Hammering down the final descent, hitting all the high lines, riding like a boss. Momentary lapse in concentration saw me over the bars falling 6 or so foot down a rocky shoot narrowly skulling myself on a rock at the bottom.

Had a chance to reflect on what had happened whilst shivering and fixing the puncture that had also happened.

I’ve learnt nothing from it though to be honest.

I often ride alone, I don’t really enjoy being out with mixed ability groups as the lactic builds up whilst I stand around waiting – some would call me anti-social.

I use Motion X to track my routes on the iPhone and have it set up to email my fiancée every 5 minutes with my gps coordinates – if I’m not home when by I should be she often has a quick look to make sure I’m still moving. Obviously it requires phone signal but works well most of the time.

with gf on bimbles, on own for harder stuff, have always done on own, esp on middle of nowhere epics (and at 7am in the morning as nobody else can get up by then), but much more so since riding buddies, got gfs, babies, dogs etc. I do like the flexibility of self, and having come from motorbike trail riding (where we managed to get really tight, effective group behaviour going – navigator, tail-end, gate openers, team puncture fixing, helmets on dinner stop etc etc and Everybody doing man-behind eye contact at junctions, where I would say having a group actually speeded things up) I find that most groups generally slow things down, also I really find it hard to restart after a long stop mid ride and most people seem to prefer a pub lunch stop, but it is fabulous to be led round somebody else manor where the trails and route are good.

Pretty much always, another Billy No Mates 🙁 – but then again i relish the peace and quiet of Nature, and i can trundle around at my own pace so it balances out… (still no real excuse for being unpopular, though 😆 )

I have a couple of mates that I ride with, it can be a good thing as they can push you to go faster and try harder, but when they are having off days it can really slow things down (thankfully they mainly push me to go faster)……

I did an 82 mile solo ride on Sat this week, of which 40 odd miles were on The Ridgeway and another 20 on bridleways, the remainder being on the road. I know how desolate the Ridgeway can be in bad weather once you are a mile or so away from points where the roads cross, so my wife follows my progress every now and again on the find my iPhone thingy.

I love long off-road rides on my own. It can be very relaxing and de-stressing to go at your own pace, stop where you want, camp where you want, get up when you want without having to consider the wants and needs of someone else.

Occasionally if there’s no-one else around.

Off for a solo tomorrow, day off work so thought I’d have a bimble over to Ponderosa/Llandegla…

Would say its 30/70 alone/in group for me.
I understand why a lot of people cycle on their own to get away from everything and have some quality me time but I do enjoy a social ride and am lucky that I belong to a large MTB group that has a mixed bag of riders with a wide range of different skill sets meaning you can choose not to join or join depending on who has confirmed to attend a particular ride and based on what you looking for on that day. As well as accidents I have to content with wildlife out here (lots of poisonous snakes and some water bison) so when I ride on my own I always make sure the wife knows when I will be back approximately and what route I intend to take.

Clue is in the the user name, I’m affraid.

😉

I would say about an 80/20 solo/non-solo split for me.

Love riding on my own as I like to explore – difficult to explore when in a group. I go stir crazy riding the same trails, and try to find something new on every ride.

Still nice to ride in a group sometimes though and have a laugh and a bit of banter.

The world is divided into introverts and extroverts, but the extroverts make more noise so the introverts end up questioning whether what they do is normal. Reading mags etc you’d think that mountain biking could only be done “with your mates”. But, as this thread has shown, there are lots of us who prefer to ride alone.

Cheers,

Andy