i was out yesterday between 6pm and 9pm
Local loop starting and finishing at Hownam school in the cheviot foot hills
up heatherhope on to pennine way on the slippy slabs then the home via “the street”
i had the company of around a dozen Cheviot goat and never “seen an other sole”

i got soaked to the skin and freezin cold
1 blowoutcheers

1 dodgy valve on replacement tube
1 pair of soar legs this morning
and it was strangely the best ride i have had in ages 😀 😀 😀 😀

so it got me thinking Just how important is the solitude mountain biking brings to you?
cheers DTD

P.s this was the same ride on a “slightly less damp nicht”
http://jedartjusticetrailpicturesandviews.fotopic.net/p30470465.html

TRY AGAIN

Grrrr

It happens all the time to me, I can ride miles and miles off road and not see a sole, most of my riding is around the Dales past skipton, Settle, Hawes etc, it’s pretty weird sometimes not seeing at least 1 person.

most of my winter rides, and many of my evening summer rides i’ll not see a sole.

Often I don’t see a soul in the South of England mid-week.

I must confess to being dead jealous of you riding in the Cheviots. Certainly some of my rides there consisted of seeing the odd farmer, or even the odd jet!

or even a soul.

it does feel strange as the hownam village was deserted
the steadings and farms on route were deadly quiet and i almost always see someone on the pennine waqy section
not compainin just made it that bit more special

i think it makes me realise how much i like being away from it all with no phones,pagers email or bells going off 😉

roll on the nest one

I often see a sole, when I look down, or if I accidentally ride into the sea.

cinnamon did you ever have the diapleasure of smelling those stinking goats?

p.s im blaming the dodgy typing on my touch pad ! the mouse has died !

Just how important is the solitude mountain biking brings to you?

nil

No, never saw the goats. But there was a really bad smell when I tried to get through the peat bog called Salter’s Road, near the border 😯

Solitude is nice, but not a neccessity. Riding is the buzz. Company seems to be fun, too.

Witness the number of organised ride threads! 🙂

Last time I was out. It happens more often than not around here, although when riding in the Cheviots sometimes try to catch some folk on the farms that I used know. Usually it’s just the goats round there though, and the odd military exercise or remnants of it.

I really like long solo rides. Not better than group rides, but different.

I find solo rides therapeutic. My eyes and ears are opened more – what was that bird, was that a deer or two in the wood?

I have to ride on my own sometimes, part of why I ride is wanting to enjoy the sights and sounds of the countryside.

Still love riding in a group though. It’s just different.

I always check for dog eggs before getting back into the car, so i see my soles every time.

2nd that mike & cg.

>so it got me thinking Just how important is the solitude mountain biking brings to you?<

Not the be all and end all but solo riding adds another challenge / dimension (assuming we are also talking here about solitude as in remote)

Usually ride alone or in a small group of 3 or 4 but have been on rides with 8, 9 10+ and found the increased organisation and faff a complete pain in the arse tbh. Spoils the riding and the enjoyment of the countryside imo so I certainly wouldn’t enjoy bumping into SB and 20 of his cronies coming tanking over the hill… (no offence intended)

Dalbeattie last Friday 8.30am had the place to myself (or so it felt didn’t see anyone), though the carpark was filling up when I got back.

I didn’t think anyone on here believed in the existence of souls.

Winter rides quite often see no-one, especially as I go for the quieter places. Even in summer I usually only see walkers, very rarely see other bikes.

If however I did see a large Soul I would beg the owner for a test ride.

quite common, I do ‘made up’ rides in Berks, Hants, Wilts etc plus a few forays to Wales, Scotland etc etc.

You need to factor in:
– time of day, earlier = less people (*FAO teenagers and students, an early start = 6am)
– car park proximity, further away = less people (say over 1 mile as BIG step)
– honeypot value, not famous or been on tv recently = not a honeypot

I’ll always do group rides and I’ll always do the odd solo, variety rules.

Last Thursday, quick spin of the wheels – out of the house, up over Bradwell Moor across the tops and down Cave Dale – not a bike or walker

how important is the solitude MTBing brings me? Essential. Life saving. I could give up every other single pleasure I have but getting out on the bike (or going out by myself alone) on a regular basis stops me buying a rifle and finding a tall tower. I’m amazed everyone else isn’t the same.

Strangest not seeing a soul ride I ever did was in the peaks. Started around 4.30pm (not that late) on a summer sunday evening and saw no-one else on the whole route, riding all the most popular peak bridleways! weird!

The solitude is important to me, though perhapse less so now than it once was when I was going through an unhappy period in my life.
Around that unhappy time it really helped me to mentally sort through my problems, going out into the hills solo and sitting on a summit contemplating life. Personally I find it hard to do that sort of thinking when I’m surrounded by distractions & sometimes indeed the problems themselves.

Very often on my Brechfa rides, yesterday nobody in one of the car parks. I find the solitude great, though I have a laugh on group rides I prefer the rides on my own. Do dogs count as souls as they are always with me.

Not an unusual thing on Dartmoor.

Very common here in mid wales… I can ride all day even in the middle of what we call summer and not see a single person (unless I’m guiding of course). Some people find the thought of it a touch scarey, if you were to injure yourself theres a very good chance you wouldn’t be found for a few days 😆

Sunday night 9pm jaunt into the woods at Grenoside to out my new ‘Troutie light’ and scam a little bit of downhill action in the dark.

No one on the trails but plenty of weed smoking/dogging going on in the car park.

i never see a sole, but i probably just ride in the wrong plaice

edit – mike and muddy, you beat me to it by 10 hours 😡

😆

I can’t make up my mind whether it’s better to ride without a sole or not.
I’ll have to mullet over.

The spelling in this thread is deserving of my Wrass and not without repRoach. I’d go out for a ride if I were you Dave to get over it.

Hope you have a Whale of a time.

you mean they shoed you a clean pair of heals ?

Hope you have a Whale of a time.

“wail of a thyme” surely ??

I’m Billy no-riding mates at the mo’;
one’s got a dodgy knee, another’s returned back to his true colours on the dark side (posted a 1.03 for 25 mile TT)and another one has discovered the reason he’s not been well for the past few years is some rare genetic immunity deficiency (and possibly Hep A) and the list goes on…. So although I enjoy solo rides I am missing the the variety of having someone to ride with.

I see no-one’s punned on the soar legs yet – my legs were flying on Sunday 😉

Samuri’s suggestion gets my seal of approval.

All the time. Best times to ride (I find) are before 10 or after 5 at the weekend, when everyone else seems to be in bed, travelling to the hills, or going home for tea. long rides at the weekend around the north Leeds -Grassington – Harrogate area I usually encounter nobody, except for the bunch riding round in circles at Stainburn. All those bridelways to myself – that’s what it’s all about!

During the week I rarely see anyone at all offroad… twas the same when I lived near the mountain biking honeypot of Hayfield.

I chucked in the bad spelling of bridleway to continue the theme of the thread 😀

I once saw a sole, and wasn’t happy. It was the day I fell off and broke my leg. I heard a crack, looked down and there was the bottom of my shoe staring up at me, at a strange angle.

Co-incidentally, I hadn’t seen a soul on that ride, so I had to get back on the bike and pedal one-footed back to civilisation.