[Closed] What do you think about whilst riding solo?

Go out for a 3 hour road ride, after 10 minutes I start thinking about how I cant wait to get home. This usually lasts me until I get home.

I generally just sing either Hawaii 5-O or Mission Impossible in my head very load.

Not too sure what that says about me though!?! 😳

EDIT: Thinking about it, it's no different if I'm riding with others! I must think my riding is more imporatant or dangerous than what it really is is!

I think about what happens if I have a crash, with no-one about, and whether rabbits will come and feast on my broken and twisted body.

That and the next haribo stop 🙂

Lol @dt 🙂

I've got a feeling I do think but not in the usual structured method, my thoughts just float about.

Until I hit something tricky then I switch on again.

I thought this was one of the best part of mountain biking you just kinda dont think too much.

Go out for a 3 hour road ride, after 10 minutes I start thinking about how I cant wait to get home. This usually lasts me until I get home.

😆

i find i can fully focus my thoughts on the ride and nothing else. kind of similar to what i imagine people achieve through meditation. solo rides keep me sane.

Everything and nothing, varies all the time. One of my fave things about riding is the wierd stuff that goes on in your head, switch off or obsess over minutiae, either can be good.

*insert tumbleweed*

I do think but not in the usual structured method

What on earth makes you think that structured thinking is the normal situation?

I don't tend to think about anything much on any ride be it solo or group ride, apart from thinking about what's in front of me on the trail.

I try not to think about the ferocious beasties that are waiting for me in the woods

The problem with thinking 'I must not think about the beasties' is that, inevotably you start think about the beasties.

I tend to fill my head with the terrain and the pain in my legs.

If I want to think about life and stuff I go out on my road bike.

Which might explain why I've not ridden my road bike for months.

This was the road leg home of an MTB ride mind. On roads and trails I knew like the back of my hand.

30 minutes earlier my mind was full of 'how tf am I going to clean this climb?'. The climb was Machen Mountain (right hand route on the East Face), and I didn't clean it.

How I'm not trying hard enough usually. I find it very hard to put effort in when riding on my own (I'm also a useless TTer, these might be connected).

molgrips - Member
... started thinking about how I'd design an eco house to put on it...

I do much the same. Keep spotting places where I could hide away a humpy (Ozzie style man habitat 🙂 ). Then half way through the revery I remember I have a wife and she has no sense of humour about my desire to live in a humpy (or a barge for that matter).

At least in this country you don't have to worry about drop bears, or the stick in your path being a poisonous snake.

I'm with Steve-Austin on this one. I tend to worry about the number of vicious Squirrels lurking behind every tree stump. When I stop, I can hear them whispering in the darkness. Plotting stuff, that's what they're up to.

Now I'm not so sure I want to go out tonight. 😕

Epi, I have come within a couple of feet of running over a big snake on an MTB ride in the UK.. that certainly startled me!

I saw a nice wee snake up here 2 years ago. Almost black with nice pattern. It was sunning itself on a rock in the track. Caught it so my daughter who was following could see it and then carried it into the scrub a bit to let it go so it wouldn't get run over. (Only little though, about 2 feet.)

Edit: on the 'Puffer track.

i have imaginary arguments with people who have annoyed me. i always win and make them look stupid, if only real life was so onesided and beneficially retrospect.

"I have come within a couple of feet of running over a big snake on an MTB ride in the UK"

What was that then? Its all grass snakes and adders isn't it? Neither of which are very big - We get quite a lot of adders at Dalby for some reason.

I usually try to think about who I can argue with. 😈

on solo rides i think about sex and winning euro millions.
if i think about euro millions first then i think alot more about sex. 😀

if i pass a fit female horse rider my thoughts automatically go to sex.

What do you think about whilst riding solo?

Very little usually. Possibly 'Mmm, pretty clouds today' or 'Mmm, who exchanged my lungs for sacks of coal?'.

I usually have an Ipod to break up the monotony. If it's a beautiful spring / summer afternoon I'll happily stop and enjoy the view for twenty minutes or so.

It works for me, no riding buddies to either motivate or make excuses to and no need to keep asking "pardon?" or "what did you say?" when trying to keep up with conversation on the trails.

A few mates to liven up the post ride beer would be good though.

I sing to myself, or sort out plot lines to the crap fiction I write.

so its only me that thinks about sex then ?

Really, not much. Except maybe some advice to pace myself. And where to go next. Sometimes I think: "Ooh, here comes the icky bit", or "Yay, that was good", or both in succession. But generally I like losing my sense of self, quieting the inner voice, and life concerns are forgotten to just concentrate on making progress.

It's nice.

I usually get lost when riding alone so my mind is usually taken up with " I wonder what's down there?" and that then reverts to "where the **** am I?"

I ride a 20 mile each way commute so have lots of time to let my mind wander. In the mornings I tend to not think about very much at all and it's fantastic to have the time to let your mind empty. On the way home I think through work stuff and all sorts of things from the universe to what brake blocks to buy.

I have my best ideas on the bike.

What was that then? Its all grass snakes and adders isn't it?

Yes, but grass snakes can be quite big, up to 6ft according to Wikipedia. Mine was about 3ft at least, and on the banks of a river which fits with the habitat.

Oh and there are smooth snakes too, making 3 kinds.

if i pass a fit female horse rider my thoughts automatically go to sex.

I don't think anything worth remembering apparently. I do sing to myself, mostly in my head, but out loud the more tired I get. It's only when something unusual pops up that it starts me thinking, but not for long. We've had quite a few snakes in the forests round me in Sweden this summer, so much so that I don't bother to stop anymore and spend 5mins coming up with reasons why I shouldn't try to touch them. I do stop for bear pooh though, and then spend the rest of the ride looking for other signs of life.

pedal, pedal, pedal, jesusI'msweatinglikeacrackhungrywhore, pedal, pedal, breathe, pedal, they'llneverfindthebodiesdon'tworry, pedal, pedal, christisthisclimbevergoingtoend, spinfeet, spinfeet, ohlookatthattree, spinfeet, cadance, riverdance, nonotriverdance, pedal, pedal, pedal, thankchristthetop, ohgod, pedalpedalpedal, notmuchfurther, nearlythere, ohitsflattineningout, breathe, breathe BREATHEBREATHEBREATHE, ok, now, back down, weeeeeeeeeeehahahahhahwooooooooahhahahahhaaeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee etc.

Like what Buzz says.

On long, demanding climbs I kind of use an inner mantra, but other than that, mtb is at least in part about the de-tune for me.

What I'm supposed to be doing, weight, foot-position, line et c.

Unless I'm night riding in the woods on my own, in which case it's "Don't think about The Blair Witch Project, don't think about The Blair Witch Project" on an increasingly fast and panicky loop until I turn for home and ride as fast as I bloody can!

APF

I'm a keen photographer so I'm always looking out for good locations. Other than that I tend to zone out.

I think of nothing and everything. Riding alone is great for clearing my head and sorting things out, i dont mean big life decisions or whatever, just emptying my head of everything. Sleeping is supposed to be when your brain sorts itself out, mine does it when im riding.

In the woods, SLP opportunities.

I ride solo with an mp3 player in one ear an invariably think why the **** am I listening to the spice girls.
Although on one ride I was so out of it that I genuinely asked myself how come all the music on here is tracks that I know....

Sex, Work, Kids. Not all at the same time, that would be appaling

Hmmm, Am I the only one who spends the whole 2-3 hours thinking about work!? Thankfully after that I tend to be able to leave it outside the home though.

everything and nothing

what is it about fit female horse riders???

Road ride - usually sing / think how lucky i am to live in such a beautiful place.
MTB ride - usually think how much better it would be if i had company

If I'm on my own I sing. Usually the Indiana Jones theme tune... If I'm with other people I'm usually wondering why I'm slower than them!

on the commutes i have a mp3 in one ear until i start to hurt or come up to a climb when tierd i just y th ebollox am i doing this then....

tell myself to stop pussying out and push harder after all pain is just weakness leaving the body 😆

My last night ride was spent mostly thinking about [url= http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/night-riding-whats-the-strangest-and-spookiest-thing-youve-seen ]this thread[/url].

Thanks STW.

On Sunday night going up through Talybont Forest I tried to imagine I was doing the Tour Divide and that I'd been riding for over 100 miles and was looking for somewhere to camp out whilst not getting eaten by bears.

When I popped out of the forest, I could see zillons of stars so I turned my lights off and stood in awe of the scale of the universe. That sort of stuff also makes me think about God, but we've done that on another thread...

Climbing over the Gap my mind was blank while I concentrated on my riding line. On the decent I thought about how long the mountain rescue helicopter would take to get to me if I binned it, assuming I wasn't unconscious and had a phone signal.

And before I knew it I was at the bottom and thinking about what I'd eat when I got back home.

Ian

Ian riding the gap at night sounds awesome.

I think about the time I have saved by not waiting for my useless mates to get ready

Nothing. I am in a white space.

That's why I like it.

I sometimes wonder when/who will find my body if I badly stack. 😕

Nothing much, just glad to be out. At times wounder why I am cranking over the moors on a bad weather day at the age of 62.