Mostly ride solo, and enjoy it cos I can ride at me own pace and go where I want, but I do enjoy small group rides now and then. Large groups off road just tend to get held up all the time, too bunched up on tricky bits of trail, and really quite slow. Can still be fun though.
Mostly on my own but do a group ride with 4-5 mates every couple of months too much stopping and faffing about on these group rides for my liking though as theres 1 of the group who will walk up everything that isn't flat or going down,so selfishly i prefer out on my own !!
50/50.. work every other weekend and getting days off in the week instead makes me Billy no mates a lot 😕
Khani; get in touch and you could have a weekday riding buddy and not feel so lonely. 🙂
Plus, I wants yer wood....
X
Nice one elf 😀
You gots email addy? I will now remove from public view...
No, I'm crap an slow...sorry 🙁 mines in my profile tho....
Usually always ride alone. I do a long commute so I'm used to riding on my own. It's always nice to meet people on a ride and have a chat for a bit but I enjoy my own space.
I've met various riders who are in clubs and have asked if I'd like to join but I don't really fancy it.
A printer I deal with at work, who I've never met, rides and knows I ride, he mentioned in an email that he goes out with friends for a Saturday morning ride and we should meet up. Sometimes I like the idea but most of the time I don't.
What if I meet up with them and their really slow?
always ride on my own as I have no riding friends and the wife is quite slow 🙂
Mainly alone - cycling friends mainly roadies. Shame as whenever I ride with others, I am pushed to ride harder and faster and to attack tech sections more aggressively. Makes me a better rider.
Ideal group 2-3, beyond that committee culture sets in, too little riding, too much discussions/consensus building. Same with skiing.
Ideal scenario - always ride with 2 others who are better riders than me.
50:50 i spent years on my own but got into club spins about 3 years ago.club spins are great if you find one that suits you, my usual sunday spin can start with 30 people and its a non stop gallop all the way, you puncture-tough sh1t , you cant keep up-tough sh1t , you have a mechanical-tough sh1t,it may all sound a bit harsh but everyone knows how it is and its a great way to maintain/improve fitness and technical ability .
70/30 on my own, I have a more understanding wife than most of my riding buddies and I'm happy on my lonesome.
I think a group of 4 is about perfect more than that is not for me.
I have always ridden solo...I know no one else who is into mountain biking aside from myself, but I am also a little paranoid about how crap/slow/unfit I am hence feel I would probably make an ar$e of myself if I was riding in a group haha!
much sadness on this thread 😥
Very, very rarely ride in company and to be honest that suits me just fine. No sadness GW. Riding can be a bit of a safety valve whereby I can have a mental tidy up whilst I'm out.
I'm similar Coyote, cycling alone can be nice time to think and process things, and feel refreshed again for everyday life.
Vast majority of my riding is solo and that's how I like it - a large part of mountain biking for me is getting away from people. I do have three or four friends who mountain bike and I enjoy going out with them a couple of times a year but that's because they're old mates. The only times I've felt I probably should have a fellow rider has been in remote spots around BC, Utah and California when no one would have known where I was. But personally I think our pastime is more about individualism than chugging round in great camel trains 😉
coyote, it saddens me to read that so many people (without even giving it a go) have already made up their minds that they wouldn't enjoy cycling with others due to nothing more than their own insecurities. 🙁
Probably 50/50 - always do 'training' rides alone as it enables me to push to my max for as long as necessary & no whinging when i want to re-loop to do sprint intervals on the same hill - did Pendle 3 times on one ride!
Do also enjoy group socials on the MTB & regularly ride with a club during the summer. My basic rule is if i want to give it some & take it serious im probably better off alone!
on the stw northern chapter rides we get a good turn out usually.
1 ride there were 49 riders.
when i am riding, i ride with 2 groups, both of which contain up to 20 riders.
riding is about fun/meeting people for me.
So, on a website whose original purpose was to get folk riding together, there's a large contingent of loners. Most by choice. I'm really not sure if there are any conclusions to draw from it.
For me I like reading other folk's posts about their adventures, whether group or solo, and it doesn't matter whether I've been out on my own, or with a group, or (like today) stayed at home and had a massive fire...
i love riding solo but having a big bunch of like minded people to ride with is great too. the best way i can describe it is like this, http://www.pinkebike.com/v/213986/1/
Yes..yes I ride alone, not all the time mind but... You see I finish work early and have always preferred riding early post work. This means mates miss out on early stuff and by the time the group rides I've already rocked out. it's very often getting dark..and I'm not keen on riding in the dark.
If it's the weekend I'll call mates, but I love really early rides, often take in sunrise outings, can get 50 miles in and home before MrsBouy has finished faffing... Sundays roadie groups are fun, but smetimes I prefer just hammering along in my own bubble saying high to those I meet out there.
I love riding on my own, especially when exploring new areas. I also love riding with 1 or 2 mates of similar abilities/sense of humour - always have a great laugh and a really good blast on the bikes.
I also love riding with 1 or 2,3 or 4 mates of differing abilities - always have a great laugh and good blasts on bikes with a few more stops to talk bollox.
I also love group rides (Bad brains mbc rock!) - always have a great laugh, learn loads of stuff off better riders and occasionally leave a few of em behind on hills, and loads of talking bollox stops - excellent.
I think you guys that restrict yourselves to solo riding (whether intentionally or not) are missing so much - though I am a really old gimmer that loves talking bollox 
Solo ?...
😉
Some of the best [i]quality[/i] time you can get, is on an empty road or trail, just you, the bike and the trail.
Its emotional !.
😀
RIDE !.
@Hugor - where in the Beacons were you, just curious in case its somewhere I've missed.
Another loner here, family commitments at the mo mean that riding starts as early as poss at the weekends and I tend to be getting back as others want to start.
Used to mostly ride with various small groups of freinds.
After moving, mostly ride by myself as I haven't loads of free time + mostly ride cheek. Great for riding at a decent pace, maximising bike time per brownie point burned, not having to compromise on route + reduced faff. But I miss the craic and an ace section ridden alone just isn't as much fun as sharing the experience. So make the effort to travel for group rides couple of times a month + have met some great people.
Solo rides are a lot cheaper for me, as the group rides always end up in the pub drinking too many strong ales.
3 of my 5 weekly rides are solo.
Mostly ride on my own because it's just easier to organise to fit in with work/kids/orienteering/running etc. and because I like to go at my own pace and decide where I am going as I feel during the ride.
Except this time of year when I usually meet up with a bunch of guys for a quick night-ride burn round the woods for an hour and a pint after on a weekday evening every couple of weeks.
usually ride on my own largely because I get precious little time and it tends to be spontaneous - most of my riding buddies live some distance away and by the time we've all sorted ourselves out my precious time has gone for another week. Also beacuse I really enjoy the peace and time to myself.
Will go to Wales, Shropshire etc for a few days when I can on my own too. I have no problem at all with it.
Mainly solo for me. I enjoy the space and quiet. I'm struggling to ride off road in groups at the moment and can't put my finger on what the issue is. It's probably me actually. 'tis good therapy this, isn't it! 😉
I guess what would scare me the most about riding with other people is that I may have to ride with people like GW who make sweeping generalisations about people they know nothing about...
yeah mostly onn my own as well. im not a sociable type.
Almost always - mainly because it's just too much hassle to get together with other people, and I tend to want to ride when other people aren't available (even more so since kids). It's not about to get any better either, given I've just bought a muni, and I not only don't know anybody else local with one, I've never even seen anybody else riding one, so I think that's almost certain to be a solitary thing.
I used to ride on my own a lot but not so much these days. I had a solo ride on Saturday and it was nice to be out in the hills on my own with no one to be seen and a nice sunset.
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70% solo, but not for misanthropic reasons.
Almost exclusively solo - a combination of living very close to the local trails and a large portion of CBA when it comes to organising companions.
Also traded company for freedom a long time ago - I like to go where I want to, when I want to and as fast/slow as I want to.
Selfish maybe but bike time is my time.
[long rant about local riding group deleted]
I ride on my own at the moment after getting more and more peeved off with the local cycling forum/group/ride. Bike usualy lives in the car at the weekend and I'll grab a ride wherever I happen to be going with local friends.
Shame as I normaly really enjoy group night rides over the winter, but this group managed to completely destroy any motivation to get out!
Thisisnotaspoon - I go through this sometimes to.
I love riding in a group, enjoy the company and banter... but local groups can go through bad patches when 'other stuff' (competitiveness/strong characters/bad feeling etc) seems to get in the way of just riding your bike with like minded folk. I found that things often calm down and come around again. Don't burn any bridges, just go and enjoy the trails on your own for a bit and come back to it in a few weeks 😕
Mehhh, only here temporerily, can't wait to get back to riding with the Trolls who know how to organise an all inclusive night ride which regulalry had ~50 people on it yet only stops two or three times in 20 miles.
The one here just felt a bit like the organisers said "I'm not riding this week so no one is".
I've had one ride in the last 12 months with another person ...
... but then I am a surly misanthrope, and I like to poke about chatting to the animals & plants I see out on the ride, and I stop all the time to take pictures, or to stare off into the distance over a gate, plus I'm fond of exploring, which often means annoying doubling back, or having to err, 'take a shortcut' - which is hard to do discretely if there is more than one or two people involved.
I've tended to ride a lot on my own over the last few years, but that's mainly due to being disorganised & deciding to go out at the last minute.
Love riding with my mates in small groups though as there's less compromise than the big group rides. It's easier for improvise routes & enjoy the shared experiences too when there's only 2 or 3 of you.
On the other hand I've often felt that I ride harder when I'm on my own, which I guess is a little counter intuitive. but that might change after breaking my collarbone on my last ride. My best mate was there to sort me out, call the ambulance and pick up the pieces. I'd have been in real s**t without him, thats for sure...
Occasionally riding on your own is good, better to share it with others though.
most of my rides are with my two sons. It always helps to ride with someone better than you, so I have my 14yo for that. unfortunately, they don't have the fitness and stamina for longer rides yet. But they will...
Forum rides are fun, as are small social rides. My road riding rends to be a solitary persuit.