Is it wise to ride in the peaks on your own? I tend to do all my riding on my own as my friends tried this biking lark and just dont get it 🙁 i go to the trail centres on my own but i really like the look of the peaks is it very isolated or would it be ok to do on your own

I do ride on my own a fair bit in the Peak.

I do always have someone who knows route and ETA at home.

I also know the route/drops/rocky bits well and make sure I am not riding at 100%….

Do it, its great.

did a 4 hour solo night ride in and around Derwent / Ladybower – even did the Beast as a solo!

night or day its all good.

take precautions and ride within your limits!

Always go on my own 😆 like riding on my own really, go as fast as i want!

In the Peaks your never far from the red sock brigade

You’ll be fine, especially if you’re riding in the day.

To be honest the Peaks are so popular that someone is more likely to find you there after a fall, than in that cheeky bit of local woods you’d ride*.

(*not that i know where you ride, just making a point!)

Peak on a weekend, there’s always millions of people about so you should be fine!

I ride in the peaks 3 times a week on my own. Take a mobile and let some one know where your going and ring them to say your alive at the end of your ride! Only joking, you’ll be fine! i have been riding around Hope/Edale/Ladybower for the last 15 months. The best advice i can give you is to take a map and check it reguarly if you don’t know the area. The majority of the routes are well signed (Bridleway)or easy to follow but it is very easy to miss a turn/junction in some areas and end up riding up a footpath. You will know when you’ve done this as the first walker you meet will wave his/her pointy sticks at you and tell you straight away you are riding on a footpath. People have been sent to Guantanamo bay for riding on footpaths in the Peak District!!! Apologise profusely and ask for directions to the nearest Bridleway. It’s a fantastic area to ride and has something for all levels of ability. have a look here for more info:http://www.peakdistrictonline.co.uk and pick up a copy of the Dark peaks.

Was like the bloody main shopping street today, with such haggles being thrown at me as:

“Where’s your bell” and “watch it”

You have to get out of your comfort zone 😀

“Where’s your bell”

“At home next to my gun”.

😉

I ride the Peaks a fair bit on my own and have never really worried about it.

Another loaner here, I do nearly all my riding alone, and the majority of it is in the peak. On the odd occasion I get lumbered in a group, I get sick off the waiting around and talking bits, I just like to get on.

I can’t see any reason why you wouldn’t. When I were a lad (and all this were fields etc…) I used to go out on my own all the time and have done ever since. This includes living and riding in Scandinavia and the Alps and most of the remoter parts of the UK. Usually it’s a week or so between seeing another person in the places round where I tend to ride, excepting the local keepers. I very very rarely tell anyone where I’m going, and never have as it often changes en-route with conditions/mood/weather etc. I’m a bit suprised anyone would ask this question. OK, if you’re thinking of heading out into Fisherfield or the likes in the depths of winter, you need a bit of preparation, but riding alone in the Peaks wouldn’t even cross my mind (apart from the fact that it seems virtually impossible to achieve this).

Peaks is fine to ride on your own. As muffin man said, it’s busier than the local woods for sure.

Where you from? If you want a guide round the best bits one weekend let me know. I’m not local but ride there a lot.

rtedge at hotmail dot com

🙂

The same here Slowjohn. I ride from home out in to the Peak District at least twice a week and more often than not on my own. I don’t have a mobile phone and I can’t leave notice of where exactly I’m going as I never know, I make it up as I go and I don’t think anybody at home would be much bothered if I was gone for days :-).
Don’t worry about it, just enjoy your ride and deal with what you have to deal with when it presents itself.

Just use some common sense about it – as others have said, most bridleways are pretty busy with walkers and other bikers so the likelihood is someone would find you unless you went to a less busy spot at the wrong time of day. For example I once set off fairly late to do stanage and back and got a puncture coming down stanage plantation as the light was fading. Took me ages to sort it out in the gloom of the wooded section and then fortunately got back to the road before it was properly dark (no lights, dur). I remember thinking at the time that I was clearly the last person to come down that track that day and if I’d broken my leg I could be in difficulty – but during the day a climber or walker or biker would have been along every few minutes.

Do take a phone though…

I ride in the Lakes all the time on my own. I would say though that you should have a map, compass and the ability to use them unless you are very familiar with an area.

I also usually tell someone my rough route and an ETA.

another billy no mates! though i’ve always run on my own and similar in the hills walking and climbing – go out with mates but happy without the hassle – have luxury of being able to ride mid week when kids are at school –

this time of year take a whistle, space blanket, mobile and leave a note saying where i’ve gone – the spell of black ice makes my usual dull routes more exciting

think last time this topic came up quoted the bit about Doug Scott crawling down the Ogre with broken legs and some good STW’er had crawled off the Quantocks with a broken leg – its only pain!

another peaks loner 🙂

been riding there for a few years in all seasons/most times of day. the good thing is even when on the hilltops your usually less than an hour away from a town/village with cafe/cake/pub etc. Can’t always get a phone signal though.

When i rode elsewhere e.g. Cheviots/NW Scotland it made me realise that in these places you need to think a bit more carefully about things before setting out on an all day ride.