Only had one incident which scared me, though it was also quite a comedy moment too. Riding what used to be my local loop up the Dee, out of Aberdeen.

Managed to come off very narrow singletrack, fall through a gorse bush and ended up hanging upside down over a 30 foot drop into the Dee. I’d somehow managed to tangle my legs up through the frame too, which was good as the bike was the only thing stopping a headfirst descent, stuck as it was, in the bush. Barely dared to breath, let alone move.

Hung there for what seemed like ages (prolly 10 mins or so) and then swallowed my pride and started yelling. Eventually some kids showed up and they fetched their big bros to come have a laugh before hauling me back up to the path.

Got away with bruised legs, and sad to say, I’m no more cautious now!

I broke my hip on a solo ride.

It was really quite uncomfortable.

whipped my phone out to call for help.

flat battery, pooh.

I am a bit more careful when on my own now.

Nearly always ride alone – it’s what it’s all about for me.

That said, I am more cautious when out in the wilds and don’t take risks I probably would when in a group. All my disasters so far have been mechanical, including a snapped steerer tube which was a little bit of a pain!

Probably the worst was ripping a tyre and breaking my pump = 9 mile walk.

Wwaswas, how did you get back?

I almost always ride on my own (no mates, are you surprised?) and if it’s cold or dark I tend to ride where I know people will be. I do consider where I am – I make sure I have my mobile (and it’s charged), and I am less worried down here in South Wales since you’re never far from a road or town, and due to the topography you almost always have mobile reception.

If it’s going to be cold I tend to be conservative or just come home, because if I crash and get stuck I don’t want to get hypothermia and die.

Yeah I have to agree with TJ 🙁

I use to night ride on my own in LW without even a phone until my best friend blackmailed me to force me to take a phone, mind you once I almost died on WCA woodwork. But I never was bothered to ride alone, even in the alps, just take our phone and let someone know where you going. Plus as said there is usually always someone on the trail

I nearly always ride alone. In fact all the injuries I’ve had, 2 * broken wrist, broken fingers and broken leg have all happened when I was with other people – never thought about that before

waited for someone to come along molgrips – I was at shoreham bmx track so it was only about 20 minutes.

first chap along didn’t speak any English which presented a problem.

Fortunately there was a st Johns with a 4×4 nearby so they got me out.

Still it did enable me to lie ein the back of an ambulance and borrow someones mobile and say to my wife;

“Don’t worry, I’ll just get my breath back and then I’ll come home”

the paramedic gave me a very strange look.

I fell off on an evening ride on the Quantocks a couple of years ago, broke my ankle, I had to hop for a short distance before I could get a signal to phone for help. I was lucky it was summer as by the time help arrived shock was already beginning to set in, the same accident in the winter could have been pretty nasty.
I don’t know how bad the break was, but its the only time I’ve been to casualty and not had to wait 🙂

Does it count if we were on the tandem?
Had a “near miss” that really shook both of us up. Out in the hills between Glenfeshie and Glen Tromie Blasting down a downhill – miles from the road and no one about – front wheel went into a bog and we had a big stack – about as close to breaking bones as you can without actually breaking them ( on the tandem you don’t go over the bars you go in to them)
I realised that we did not have enough kit with us t survive overnight and if it had been just a bit worse we could have been in real trouble – about 4 miles to the nearest house.

It made me think again about the kit we carry and be a bit more cautious – it was a “user error” crash as well 🙁

I ride at Swinley and local rides solo but I don’t think I would venture in to the great unknown solo. I had a mate who went out fell running one morning on Ben Nevis solo and never came back. It has kind of stuck in my mind…

Several years ago I woke up in Borders General, Galasheils, bruised and cut and wearing torn bloodied lycra. I had no money and at first couldn’t remember where my car and camping gear was. When they let me out I had to hitchhike to Dunbar wearing old clothes far too big for me that I’d begged off the hospital.
(thanks to NHS, police and my helmet)

There used to be three of us riding every Saturday. The the other two became fixated with getting home, washed and showered (bikes and riders) and into the pub for the lunchtime footy on SKY. I carried on riding by myself. I just think a little bit more on techy stuff. Wifey always knows where I’m going. Only downside is that most of us improve our riding if with others; I now tend to take the chicken runs “just in case”. But what the heck? I enjoy myself.

6 months ago I was too scared even to contemplate the party quarry descent in our woods. Then I got the Nomad. I did it one dry summer eve with the club and I felt like a god. Not many people are brave enough. I rode it twice after in good dry conditions. Last monday on a dreamy night ride in the snow I went down it with my pal, both on hardtails. It felt awesome to do such a tricky ride in such tricky conditions on a HT. Bouyed by this and the fact that there was another 3″ of virgin snow on it I decided to make it my descent out of the woods again on a solo ride on wed eve. I negotiated it all, including the 4ft drop off which throws you toward a 30ft cliff and the 45 degree gulley with curling stone sized rocks. On the run out, for no reason I can explain, I found my self eating dirt and snow at about 30kmh. A handle bar end in the gut, knackered knee, gashed elbow and worst of all a hole in my lovely icebreaker merino was the result. It took me 10 mins or so to get my self together and another 10 with the multi tool to get everything in the right position again. It suddenly dawned on me that no one knew where I was cos I’d gone off my usual routes and it would probably be a couple of days before anyone went that way. I went out again on sat after telling the missus where I was going this time. I was greeted with slush and sheet ice with water on top, you know the stuff. I went past the entrance to the party quarry and there was fresh snow/slush on it. No tracks. The temptation was overwhelming until the pain in my abs reminded me to be sensible.
My trouble is that I hate giving myself an excuse NOT to do something. The dark, being alone, being on a hardtail, and the snow are all perfectly good reasons not to attempt a run like that. It’s just that there is a wee devil on my shoulder telling me that none of them are good enough excuses not to do it. The buzz when you succeed is great. The pain when you fail isn’t. Have I learned my lesson? I doubt it although I’ll try and leave a route before I leave. The trouble is, I don’t know where I’m going to go most of the time.

1st time I rode with a mobile I shoved it in my back pocket. I crashed of course, landed on said mobile and gave myself a lovely mobile shaped bruised. Wouldn’t touch one for years later.

I almost always ride solo, night as well. In the last few years I’ve had broken ribs, concussion, whiplash, smashed helmet, broken thumb, the normal roadrash. I still feel safer offroad than on, to the extent that I sold my road bikes after the kids were born. I’m lucky though that my local trails ( a 600ft hill with xc and dh style trails) is approx 3 mins ride away. Although if I crashed badly in the evening I wouldn’t be found until the next day probably…..

I usually ride alone (miserable git with no mates) and despite two big crashes and several smaller one continue to do so – in a way it heightens the ‘out there’ experience – I leave details of the ride with Mrs BNS – have map compass & GPS unless riding locally then it’s a rough plan and fairly precise time to be back (in practice this is a panic by time). Recently I have bought some dog tags with emergency contact info – also have ICE info in the phone

Although ridding within my limits this usually means taking stuff steadily – and using good low speed skills – such as track stands to check lines – anything not too happy about I’ll get off and check the line or just walk it

I ride on my own 99% of the time. Probably ride faster on my own than when I’m with poeple. Don’t ever think about crashing, have a few close ones now and again but nothing that scares me into slowing down. Had a big over the bars a couple of years ago, came away without so much as a scratch. Had a spindle snap in a rear hub 12 years ago when I was about 12miles from home on 30mile loop. I buried the bike in undergrowth and ran home. Came back later in the car to collect it.

I’ve used nokia sportstracker – there’s not many dead spots for mobile near me and it’s reasonably accurate.

and mrsww can check I’m not in the pub too 😉

The trouble is, I don’t know where I’m going to go most of the time.

That is a major issue I struggle with too. Whats this nokia sports tracker of which you speak…off to google

I ride on my own most of the time too but all the accidents I’ve had (fractured pelvis and cracked ribs a couple of times) have been with other people. The closest I came to a bad solo one was riding in the Lakes years ago, was on the track from Blencathra round to Skiddaw House YH on a gravel/rocky doubletrack, nothing technical. Got air off a small rock outcrop, ballsed up the landing and went over the bars into the heather on the uphill side. It occurred to me then that had I gone onto the downhill side it was a good 300ft drop to the valley bottom. I took it a bit more carefully after that.

I have ridden some fairly big mountains in some fairly out of the way places (Alps, Pyrenees, Italy, Slovenia, etc) on my own.

You have to adjust your attitude, from “ride as fast as you can” to ” ride smoothly and safely”.

Oh and that thing you heard was probably not a bear. Hopefully.

Nearly always ride alone. Wasn’t a problem in Blighty, nothing too serious around where I lived.
Now I’m in Aus, and some of the terrain is a bit mad to say the least (I’ve crashed more here than anywhere).
Anyway, have done a full over the bars at speed thanks to a stick + small drop-off moment. T’was the first time I stayed down. Got up, felt OK. Carried on, managed to ride into (not through) a barbed wire fence across a track, much blood. Then decided it was time to head home, managed another over bar moment as I poped over a log and found grassed over 4×4 rut…
Put it all down to a bad ride.
Anyway, within 3 hours I couldn’t cough or laugh. Nothing broken (according to the x-ray) but I did discover that panamax plus neurofen+ make an ace combination!

A bit more sensible now, two kids, and a realisation that if I stuff myself I’m likely to be trapped with snakes etc in a very hot country (not Vic thankfully, bless them).

AndyC

Always ride alone myself. day and night. No-one ever knows where i’m going or when i’m going to be back. It’s Britain, not Alaska. Someone will find you sooner or later if you fall off and really, it has to be something pretty bad so you can’t drag yourself back.

For me, I think the most unpleasant was my freehub dying 13 miles from home, long push back that one. The one that could have been the riskiest was doing a jump, hitting a tree in the air and spinning round and round like a record until I landed on my head in a ditch. early evening so no-one would have come along till next morning. I’d have spent a cold night in a ditch, hardly going to kill me. But after ten minutes I cleared my head and rode home. Couple of broken ribs, plenty of bruising on my houlder, permanent scar.

Beer fixed it.