[Closed] Are you a social rider or a lone wanderer?

95% out on my own, it's a chance to have a bit of time to myself and go at my own pace. It's nice to ride with others once in a while though.

Just me, the bike and the view feels comfortable. Sharing with a few others can bring good craic if we are all of a similar mind.

Both

I like riding solo but where there is a chance of injuiry(such as shuttle sessions), its good to have some people around who can carry you out 🙂

Solo.

Only time I ride with other people is on a STW pootle.

Solo.
I don't like the stop/start faffing around that comes with group rides.

Both, depends how I feel. I rode a sportive on my own, not sure why that's important but it was cheap and I payed for a food stop and some marshalling mostly.

Solo, had bad experiences with group rides.

Hell is other people.

Mostly solo, once a week with a mate of a similar mind but I like being on my own and just enjoying. Every so often I get what I call ' the nirvana feeling' when everything clicks and I wouldn't want to be doing anything else, don't get that on group rides.

100% solo. My aspergers wouldn't allow anything else.

Mainly solo as other riders have childcare commitments and when I can ride it's early early sadly. I don't like riding alone all the time

Mainly solo, I have a good group of riding friends but commitments Wags, kids, other priorities get in the way, and I've stopped asking if anyone wants a ride out, it's far easier to say I.m going for a ride at X time and X place , as otherwise one mate will say can we do the afternoon, another the morning and the third will turn up an hour late and then decide to change his pedals or tyres to suit the conditions so a 2-3 hour planned ride turns into a full day of 2 hours riding..

If I set up from home my bike will be ready, fill up my water and off I go, the last time I went to my mates on my bike 10 min ride down, it took an hour 45 to set off.. A ride I can do in just over 2-2 1/2 hours turns into 6 hour waste of a day, and a disgruntled wife when I get home so late

I like the different aspects that each type of ride allows. Solo is great for either planned or for ad hoc outings when you need to get out, I'll do big 40 mile efforts alone occasionally in fairly remote locations but ride cautiously. I love the companionship and competition that riding with my son will allow, but he's away at Uni for a large part of the year now. I also like riding is big groups for the social aspect, but then they keep stopping 🙄

Only ever ride alone and only ever will. Riding is me time. But then I'm a pretty solitary person outside of wife and kids.

Solo, no doubt

just me and my bike - whether on the road, or on the dirt

Don't mind a solo ride, but love all that comes with riding with my mates, and I like to ride with people who are better/quicker than me, to keep me on my toes.

If I road ride, I tend to go solo, but the road doesn't really do it for me tbh, just a bit mundane.

99% solo , l'il J comes with me now but he's only good for a couple of miles. ( he's still only 3).
I really miss riding with certain folk , the ones who are on the same wavelength etc .
Due to my aspergers it is difficult to find new people to irritate ...ha.
One day I might organise a North London gravel pootle(tm).....

Solo...people find my awesomeness overwhelming (also I have no friends).

At least one ride a week with friends, join shop rides when I can and occasionally drag the other half out. Other than that it's solo

I did impulsively buy a Dyfi entry from the classifieds and will be doing that solo and it's only the lonely camping the night before that I'm not looking forward to

Clue is in the title 🙂

I cycle alone.

Hence: [i]Solo - member[/i].

Normally solo, but I do ride with others occasionally. Lately it's been molgrips, which is funny because we're both pretty introverted, and would not naturally ride with anyone else.

Both

Each bring different experiences.

I like riding on my own when I just want to do my own thing, ride at my own pace, go where it like, stop when I like etc.

But riding with a group of mates can sometimes give you that impetus to get out, ride new trails, improve your riding and just be a laugh.

Apologies for listing this but it surprised me how much I'm doing!

Monday night is solo 24+ off road ride
Tuesday night is solo 7-10K run around the village
Wednesday night is group 20+ off road ride, between 2 and 6 riders
Thursday night is solo 5K run around the village
Friday night is a night off
Saturday morning is Parkrun 5K ~200 people every week of which 4 or 5 are buddies from my village
Saturday night is a night off
Every 3rd Sunday morning is solo 25+ off road ride

So looking at that I guess mine time is split 4 out of 6 solo or 66% of the time! I enjoy solo rides but I also love the Wednesday night ride as it's the same close riding buddies every week and we have a laugh & end up in the pub, I'm 51 but on Wednesday nights I revert back to a 10 year old!

99% solo for me too. I'm a total misanthrope, probably.. 😉

I find riding with other people fun, but quite stressful also. It's like being at a dinner party (who are you, what do you do, etc.?) while covered in sweat and negotiating roots. 2 STW pootles to date, good fun, but a different headspace to the lone calm I normally find.

If I actually had any friends, I might ride with them. But I don't. 😐

Mainly solo these days - generally training for ultra events so difficult to find a friend who wants to ride for 10hrs without stopping. Used to do a lot more group riding - went out with a group of mates the other day, but unfamiliar rider in the group nearly took me out on a downhill because they didn't have any group riding experience and changed direction without looking.

Mostly on my own, both here and in Greece. I have a couple of good friends (one in each place) that I go out with occasionally but 90% of the time it's just me. Most people just seem to want to get miles in and so while I like to try new ways to clean particular obstacles, like say a difficult muddy gully or up steps onto a bridge, most riders can't be arsed with this and just push if they can't ride it. I get a lot of pleasure out of riding technical stuff well, more than I get out of simply putting the miles in.
Also I find that a solitary singlespeed rider doesn't fit into the dynamic of a typical group ride and I can get away with riding cheeky stuff on my own that I wouldn't want to lead a dozen people down. It doesn't look good, encouraging irresponsible behaviour in others when you're very nearly 64.
Me, I don't give a monkey's.....

Just me on 95%+ of rides... I like it when it's me and a mate, but it's rare it happens as we do different things in life that means our weekends don't fit in too often.

Mostly solo, and I like it these days, no hanging around for mates who are always late, no faffing (well, only my own), no having to lend out a heap of kit before we start because someone's forgotten something. I can just jump on the bike and go, go as fast or as slow as I want, stop when I want, take pretentious arty photos whenever I want, and have some time alone to think. But that's mostly local xc or road rides.

I'll go to trail centres alone, and do regularly, but probably prefer it in a group, particularly techy stuff, it's good fun discussing who fell off, who's crap, who's aswumz, which bits we found hard etc, and chasing each other down. It's nice to ride with someone better/faster/fitter than you are too I find so you push yourself that bit harder.

I want to do some bivvying this summer, but don't fancy that alone.....

80% solo
20% group

Have a few really good mates who i love to ride with but shift work , young family means my riding can be at odd times so mostly solo . That said riding in a big group does not appeal to me at all yet i do enjoy stuff like tweedlove events and the tour de ben when your riding with 400 other people .
I think its good to be on your own sometimes , clears the head

Solo for the most part, or with one or two others when asked.

95% alone whether on or off road. I enjoy riding with my mate, brother and gf, but they are inevitably only a few times a year. I could cope with a bit more riding with others, but group road riding doesn't appeal much. I'm fundamentally a loner so i'm happy enough for it to stay that way.

Social by choice but often solo by necessity.

The only exception being MTB night rides where I always buddy up.

I ride from my front door whenever I have the opportunity and arranging to meet up is something of a faff so it's mostly solo for me

However if somebody is prepared to tag along I don't mind

Just me, the bike and the open trails....

Solo for both road and MTB. The only time I end up riding with other people is in events that I do, which is, unfortunately, unavoidable.

100% solo until Monday.
For a while now the realisation has dawned on me that, although I am almost never alone, I am quite often lonely.
Having so many work and family commitments means that my life has been subsumed into meeting other peoples expectations most of the time and it leaves little space for me to be myself instead of whichever role i'm supposed to be playing at the time.
I know this is not a healthy way to live your life and this eventually led to an extremely unhealthy outcome so i made an active choice to do something about it.
Phase 1 of my plan was to get some time to myself. This led me to get a bike and try to get some mood boosting exercise and some alone time.
I totally get the loner mentality that many have expressed and embraced it.
An unintended consequence of this was stumbling across STW.
Came for the bike and stayed for the banter.
It's been a good pressure relief valve to satisfy that bit of my personality that needs to be a bit childish and silly and interact with other people without having to meet their expectations.
It's much easier to dip in out for a couple of minutes at a time during the day get your daily banter ration rather than having to resolve scheduling conflicts and meet real people in the real world.

This has helped me enormously to regain a bit of the balance that was previously missing from my life..... I am aware,however that there is real danger of tipping that balance the other way and only living an online life.

So, on Monday, I took the plunge and replied to a message on the Facebook group of the local MTB club where I'd been lurking for a while, asking if anyone was out for a ride.
Met up with a bloke called Dan and went for a blast round the local trails.
It was a revelation. I've lived in the area all my life but I was shown trails that I didn't know existed. I had a few shortcuts of my own that Dan had never seen. We both went home a tiny bit wiser.
I pushed myself much harder than I would normally have and didn't die as a result. It was something that I'm going to do again.

After a long time as a lone wolf it felt good to run with the pack.

Solo.

After a long time as a lone wolf it felt good to run with the pack.

When is your little compilation of poetry coming out? 8)

Both.

Solo:
+ lovely to get out after work and clear my head. Stop when I want, explore or session bits that suit me and pick my own pace.
- Can be lonely & dangerous. Can get very engrossed in my own thoughts.

Group:
+ Some days its more about socializing than the ride. Can be a good laugh when tackling a trail obstacle & safer. Ride breaks at the pub or cafe are good. Running a train and chatting about a run you've had at an uplift is good fun.
- The pace can be intolerably slow and the constant stopping drives me nuts. Making awkward conversations with 'that guy'. Poor bike maintenance from others ruining the ride.

I don't know if it's just a coincidence that the 'solo' types are the ones posting but the above has really surprised me. I would have expected the opposite, with the majority riding with mates or in a group.

When is your little compilation of poetry coming out?

I'm a poet? Didn't know it. 😉

both; work patterns (no pattern) can dictate that I can just head out.

TBH its good in different ways, I do have an aversion to large (> 4 say) groups though.

I don't know if it's just a coincidence that the 'solo' types are the ones posting but the above has really surprised me. I would have expected the opposite, with the majority riding with mates or in a group.

Explains a lot about this place though 🙂

It would appear that I'm not alone 😛

Mainly solo but often with my wife and occasionally with a group, this is either MTB or road. Sometimes I'll head out on my own and happen to ride with another rider for a while before going our separate ways.

90% solo.
I have a mate who lives locally who I like to ride with, but he works shifts, I work away a bit, and we both have little kids so we're lucky if our schedules allow for more than one joint ride per month.

We're both doing Ride London - mostly for the 100 miles of closed roads.

I have no interest in joining a club, mostly due to the way I see them behaving when I'm out at weekends (shouting at each other, dropping litter, etc)

I don't know if it's just a coincidence that the 'solo' types are the ones posting but the above has really surprised me.

Not me.

I'd guess that, like me, many people on here have taken up MTB'ing relatively late in life?
Late 30's early 40's probably.
It can be quite daunting to throw yourself in to the mix with other people if you've no real way beforehand of gauging your own fitness / skill levels compared to other people who may have been biking for years.
I've read so many posts on here from people who've been invited on group rides who instantly respond that they'd be terrified that they wouldn't keep up and would hold everyone else back.
It's only natural to be self conscious and it's much easier to stay solo.

Social, but only small groups. Riding with large groups inevitably sucks as the faffing, wingeing, and mechanicals from those arses who can't be bothered to look after their bikes spirals exponentially.

I've ridden with a selective group of gentlemen for about 7 years now. At most our group is 6 on big days, and is sometimes just two. I'm happy with that.

Our life commitments independently push and pull on our ability to ride regularly as a group, but that's cool, because we're all parents with jobs, and all the responsibilities that goes with that.

I don't see the point of riding solo if nobody can't see your latest carbon frame bike, latest groupset or choice of tyres.

I'd say there's a correlation between the personality types that prefer to ride alone and the personality types that inhabit Internet forums. I prefer to ride in groups (though more recently I realise I've been doing more solo riding due to family logistics) - but of the many dozens I ride with, very few post much on here. Mind you, wwaswas makes up for all the rest! 😉

i do plenty of solo rides but only short local blasts to keep the cobwebs away. much prefer a group, 2 or 3 is best. i like the encouragement from having other riders about, bravado kicks in.

im too much of an introvert for large groups tho, end up going mute!

Odd one out here 90% group of well trained mates. Twice a week this time of year, combining road and MTB, faffing is not allowed.
I have just purged the group due to the time thiefs, as mentioned above!
If I am out on my own it's normaly a route finding effort.

Another thought - if I just rode on my own I suspect I'd still be riding my Boardman XC bike and doing more XC riding. It was riding in a group that opened my eyes to techy singletrack, jumps, drops, steep stuff, away trips to interesting places, uplift days and so on - and riding a lot faster downhill and ending up in a bit of a bicycle arms race to keep up! 😉

Mostly solo on the trails,like to pick and choose routes as i go along,go at my own pace and distance,just depends how i feel on the day.
Ride DH with my son and some friends,it's good banter on the uplifts.

Mainly solo, a combination of not really have any other mates who cycle, me liking the time alone and also generally not planning when I will go out. I reckon I do 2 or 3 rides a year with others and very much enjoy them in moderation.

I recent change has been my wife getting into the road side of things so now once a week we go out as a pair and it's awesome.

solo

Mostly, but the groups will be family, or max 1-2 chums.

I like hills, so will often just do a route that involves the most climbing in the shortest possible distance. Surprisingly, most other people don't seem to like this. I like to be able to change the route and take in extra hills when I find them, and get lost.

Also, I have a natural aversion to people with all the gear and no idea, and cycling clubs in packs of 40-50. There are quite a few of these in the Wessex Downs/Chilterns.

Solo mainly as family grown up but when I do ride in a group it is with family.

Used to ride in a group in the 90s we all worked similiar patterns, job promotions and life changes altered that to solo in the 00s plus I liked to ride at my pace no faff and quiet to escape the job......

Family grew up so rode with them and solo

Then injuries really kicked in so really wanted to ride solo to gain fitness/ not be all macho,/ and relax

Still there in solo world but do miss or would like the idea of a group ride sometimes

Prefer solo.

Road - mostly on my jack.
Off-road - mostly not.

Quite like the hive-mind approach to navigation, and the cameraderie and back-up in the event of a crash or a mechanical that goes along with riding in a group.

Quite like the fact that you can proceed at your chosen pace, however fast or slow that might be, when you're on your own.

I prefer riding solo on the road bike,but I'll call in at one of my mates for a brew & socialise. On the mountain bike I rarely ride solo,usually ride in a small group 5 maximum.If I go out with the MTB club it's inevitably lots more which means more faffing about but also more sociable.
It's all good! 😀

Almost entirely in a group. Guys i've been riding with for years and years so we're all the same fitness and skill level, and all drift to the latest interest - currently fatbikes. All like our cider too so plenty of pub stops.

Or group rides with the local club, with enough members to split into similar-pace groups.

Or out with the local roadies, who i've known for 30+ years...

Might try this solo thing one day!

Vast majority of it is solo, but that's mainly as the few guys is used to mountain bike with have all either given up due to family / partner commitments or have crossed to the dark side and become roadies. Saying that I don't mind riding on my own as its a great way to clear my head and just focus of the task at hand rather than extranious life rubbish. Only time I miss riding with others is for the post ride pint & debrief on how we all almost died on x or y section, or when wanting to try some new technical section (drop, gap jump or so on) out of my comfort zone - useful to have someone to call the ambulance for you! Although solo seems the majority here, out on the trails I find its c 80% groups 20% solo

I've read so many posts on here from people who've been invited on group rides who instantly respond that they'd be terrified that they wouldn't keep up and would hold everyone else back.
It's only natural to be self conscious and it's much easier to stay solo.

Made me think did that.

I've tried group rides (not from here I'll add). Been mountain biking on and off since the 90s but a few years ago got diagnosed with a crap pancreas so not fast and, thanks to the drugs, can bonk (hate that term) getting up off the sofa.

In the past I've had a phone call from the organiser of a social ride suggesting that people would be expecting a good days riding and would not want to wait for me or worry about whether I'm having problems.

Perhaps the likes of that phone call I had is why people are terrified of keeping up - because the experience is that you are expected to keep up.

Spotted a beginners ride at a trail centre recently that also had the small print, make sure you're fit enough to keep up, beats me how anyone new would know if they are fit enough.

That's pretty much why I ride solo. I don't expect that people would understand my own difficulties, so if I ride on my own I don't have to worry. Not found a useless older riders group in my area yet 🙂

Can't imagine what it would be like if I needed an e-bike as well.

99% solo - as above it's "me" time in an otherwise hectic life. So value the peace and quiet and chance to escape. Ditto skiing, much prefer to ski n small groups - never more that 3-4. Saves the phaffing, debates and general waste of time..

Most of my local mates are roadies too. But would like to ride more with better riders as I need to be pushed out of my comfort zone and told to stop mincing when the gnarr appears!!!!

Spotted a beginners ride at a trail centre recently that also had the small print, make sure you're fit enough to keep up, beats me how anyone new would know if they are fit enough.

Strava should have a feature that matches you with people with similar times to you on the same segments rather than focusing on the fastest all the time. Maybe it does?

It's interesting that there are so many solo riders on this thread. Reading the coverage of MTBing in mags etc you'd think that it was a sport that you could only do with your mates. You hardly ever read a ride report in Singletrack (or any other mag for that matter) written by a solo rider.

Personally I prefer to ride on my own. Ideally (and frequently) I wont meet another soul on a ride. I do ride with others occasionally. Maybe one or twice a year. I enjoy it, but that's enough group riding for me 🙂

Roverpig, when you have a regular group you ride with you can do all the gear pondering with real spoken words instead of writing essays online, hence the need for forums is much less! 😉

I mostly go out with 3 or 4 friends who are about the same skill and fitness levels. As one of the guys is now on a different shift pattern to the rest of us, it feels like herding cats to organise a suitable day sometimes, but always have a good laugh when we do manage it.
I have done a couple of solo rides, but prefer the banter in a small group.

I do want to go out with the local MTB club, but as others have said, I worry about my fitness and don't want to hold people back, so until my fitness improves I'm holding off.

Bit of everything really.

Solo rides are great for exploring, scoping out new trails and riding from the door.

I have group rides with friends of similar ability where its all banter and egging each other on.

I have group rides with faster people where I'm trying to push my technical ability, and the limits of what I can ride.

Not sure what all these 'mechanical' stops are that people moan about. With tubeless and modern bikes, our group rides rarely have any.

Though I like the solitude of solo peace & quiet of which I get none for a month at work offshore. Nowadays it's a small group of great lads who are good mates, done the large group thing & hated it, faffing about Oh i'll change my tyres at the car park, have i got enough layers on will it rain, etc it was ridiculous so I keep it simple, get on the bike big days out lakes etc & crack on.

I am the only person on here who enjoys Club rides?!? Maybe it's more a road thing, but I really enjoy being part of a cycling club and the regular weekly rides. Good for my training (I can always opt for a "hard" ride if I want to push myself), great social craic, cafe stops, help when you're tired or have a mechanical, and most of all have made several good friends 🙂

Equally I ride several times a week on my own - love the flexibility to choose when and where I go, and will happily head off on a solo 100 mile ride through the mountains.

Plus, ride out regularly with my partner - we're fairly evenly matched and both training for the Marmotte, so will both aim for similar training rides.

Personally, I think it's great to have a bit of diversity - sometimes solo, sometimes just two of you, and other times a 'mini-peleton' on a club ride 🙂

Bit of everything for me.

Racing at the weekend, solo on Tuesday, with a mate today. All riding is good riding though!

As much as I enjoy a group ride - there are a couple of mates that you simply know will more than likely be the ones with the "technical issues". It's dawned on me that this is not bad luck (we all snap a chain or get a flat from time to time) - but a couple of mates who's bikes are not well looked after tend to be the ones with continually hold the rest up. Be it a bendy bus back end where pivots have come loose, lack of stans, trying to repair an innertube with 35 patches on it already....you know the sorts....

Be it road or mtb the vast majority of time it is a solo ride for me.

Very occasionally a friend or family member may tag along. Biggest group I ride with is 4 and that includes me and is on the mtb.

I do, now and again, end up riding on the road with another solo rider for a part of a ride. But that is only if we are both friendly and seem to be similar pace, etc.

Nearly all of my riding is solo.
I like the freedom to go where I want without having to consider anyone else's opinion and I can go at what pace I feel like on the day.

The downsides as I see them are:

If I can't find motivation, it's too easy to slack off if there's nobody else to let down by staying in.
There's nobody to talk over the highs and lows with afterwards.
Riding with faster riders makes you faster.
No one at hand in case of an accident.

I do the odd event here and there and occasionally (hardly ever) go on group rides, but mostly it's Billy No Mates.

Back in the 90's I used to ride with my brother and his mate around the Box Hill area and I loved it. My brother now lives in Oz and his mate moved away. Now I ride solo but would love to have others to ride with as I really miss the company/banter.
Anyone else who wants a riding partner around Swinley etc. , let me know.
I hope this doesn't come across as too desperate 😳

I've just done a quick ride before going work. Found myself singing to myself on the flat bits.

No one within earshot so no one to scare with my dreadful singing. Great fun.

I do both but only ever on the road bike these days. If I'm honest I prefer riding solo but not sure I'd only ever want to do one or the other.

I think my ideal ride would be me and 2 or 3 friends.

I go out with the local club and whilst I like the social aspect the actual riding in a large group doesn't always appeal to me- its quite easy to clog up the local lanes if there's too many of you and whilst I appreciate the need for the "rules" of group riding I sometimes wonder if the regimented aspect of it sucks all the fun out of riding.

I'd probably prefer to just go out on my own and then meet everyone else for a coffee in the local cafe and just omit the group ride altogether. Met some sound people though.

Usually on my own, given a choice I usually like riding with 1-2 others. I dislike bigger groups; on the road I just get stressed by everyone else's lack of road craft, unless they're all really good riders (which is rare these days!), off road there's too much faffing.

Always loved riding solo but used to ride regularly with friends then they moved plus juggling family commitments & work meant arranging meet ups was nigh on impossible.
So now mostly solo with a couple of meet ups for rides with mates every year.

Joining a club... I think I'm too Groucho Marx for a commitment like that (over the green from my house is the bus shelter that is a regular chaingang meet/re-group spot for all the local clubs)