Do you mountain bike alone?

I'm bumping this up from years ago. It wasn't too long after I posted this question that I got pg which put a halt to my mountain biking.

I'm finally back! And have some big goals for myself on the trail this year. And if I have any hope at all in accomplishing them, I HAVE TO RIDE ALONE.

So, alone it must be. There's some great advice in here.

This Friday I will venture out for my first solo mntn bike ride. I'm nervous, but excited. I'll be able to go my own pace without stopping every 1/2 mile to a mile. I'm planning to ride the 12 mile loop, but I know a short-cut at 6 miles in case I'm feeling like I need to bail early for any reason.

Will be bringing:
Map
Bike tools (&pump)
ID
Whistle
Pepper Spray
Emergency Blanket
Extra food
Extra lightweight jacket
First Aid kit
Compass
GPS computer

I've done a lot of adventure racing and backpacking, I'm feeling more prepared now than I did a few years ago. I have a lot of packable gear and more experience being out alone in the woods.

Happy Trails!

i almost always ride alone but there is very good cell phone reception where i ride and i have only seen a creepy guy once but have occasionally met nice guys (i have yet to see another women mountain biking on the trails i ride solo) also the days i ride are days my husband is working from home and able to watch my 2 year old ds. i wear a road id and my husband always knows where i am. the days i have seen no other mountain bikers i have always seen rangers doing work on the trails. not lots of rangers just one but i figure if something happens i will get found within a few hours and if i am able to use my cell phone to call for help then a lot sooner. i love riding alone i love being surrounded by forest and nature and having that solitude it is something i get so rarely as a stay at home mom to a 2 year old. when i ride in a group i always learn a lot and i have fun but it isn't really relaxing and i just don't enjoy it the way i enjoy riding solo.

This thread passed me by last time, so i'll pipe up now. I ride 90 % alone, commuting, road and dirt road, but these are not isolated areas and I have cell phone coverage everywhere. If I endo'ed and was knocked unconscious it would be a rare evening that someone wouldn't pass me in the course of 30 minutes. I carry some mechy stuff, money and bus pass if I'm riding somewhere more than an hours walk or so home.

But I was curious as to how several of you mention "creepy guys". What makes them creepy? This may be a very safe area (or country even) compared to many of you, or maybe I'm just blind to creepiness :p but I've almost never met anyone I felt threatening in the woods. Now that guy on the pier that Miranda (?) described - that was def creepy behaviour!

LW, something my hubby and I have noticed around here is that even when we don't get a good cel signal for making a phone call, texts seem to go through just fine. I think I know where you are planning your ride (it's one of DH's favorite places to ride and I always get nervous when he goes it alone, too). I can ask him how his phone works out there.

the one time i saw a "creepy" guy when i was in a trail he was wearing a black ski mask like a ninja and yelling things and i couldn't make out what it was he was yelling. he seemed creepy. i wasn't that afraid of him but i was a bit startled and i was glad that he rode by really fast and i didn't have to be around him for more than a few minutes. normally everyone i see seems really nice though.

Hey, I just talked to my hubby...he said texting from out there shouldn't be a problem. He also is thinking about biking out there on Fri., too (one advantage of the economy is that his company shuts down every-other Fri.). If you wanted some company I'm sure he'd be happy to meet you at the trailhead. :)

Zoom-Zoom: I am planning on doing my mountain biking alone on Friday. I would imagine there will be a few riders that take Friday off or are forced to take Friday off because of the economy. That's probably my best day to have some traffic through there. Although, they will be closed after May.

Not sure what I'll do then. The trail I really want to ride can be very remote. But I'd rather do that than hit the trails in GR that are a super-highway. I want some wide-open trails so that I can get good training in for Ore 2 Shore and Iceman.

I'm noticing a trend of mothers with small children who bike alone. It's too bad we all don't live closer to each other as then we would have someone to trade childcare with and someone to bike with! That being said I bike alone all the time, my partner worries about me more than I worry. I am prepared and carry tools, snacks, H2O, cell phone, a warmer layer. I bike wherever I feel like biking, we have a beautiful network of trails half a mile behind our house. The upside is even if I end up on a new trail (which is always super-technical) I can head down and return home. Our trails also tend to be busy so I (foolheartedly?) assume that I would be found within a reasonable amount of time. On that note I am more worried about bears and mountain lions than scary men. Odds are, around here, you will be attacked by a bear first.
In my humble opinion fear is a crappy reason not to do something.

Well..if you mtn bike in Western Australia the biggest things you'd have to deal with would be:
Kangaroos
Snakes
Pea Gravel (only danger there is if you have anymore than 25psi in both tires..say goodbye to any traction!!!)

Limewave-I train on my own for big mtn bike events!

Another good tip: just before you leave, let someone know where you'll be and what time to reasonably expect you back.

-- gnat!

I do not mountain bike alone mostly because I am a clumsy fool and prone to slow-mo falls. Once of twice we have gone to the local beginner to intermediate trail and beat DH there so he catches up. The trail is very well traveled so I guess if I wrecked bad someone would be along at sometime. I know how to change a flat and other basic fixes. Plus as I found when I broke my seat post, it doesn't take that long to walk out of the trail. :rolleyes:

My very first mtb ride was alone, on a trail I had never been to, on a brand new bike I had never ridden on clipless pedals I had never used.

Talk about being nervous.

Those first few pedal strokes in the dirt, back in '96 on Chesboro trail in Agoura were the hardest I ever took. I had no idea how it would feel or if I would fall in the sand or what would happen if I hit a rock or root. I did not carry enough water but I did have some tools and a spare tire and pump. I wanted to scream on the first little downhill (wasn't so little then ;))

Loved every moment- Went back over and over on my days off till I could ride all the way to the very back of trail. Got a Camelback for more water, and learned about how to make a splint from small branches and shirt tails :o.

Flash forward 14 years. I still ride alone a lot of the time as my schedule is not the same as any one else. I've gone on vacations alone and rode trails in places I've never been (now with the help of a Garmin on the handlebar.) I like the prep; taking the time to make sure the bike and the stuff I take is all good as I don't want to walk out (did once, due to injury, walked/coasted to trailhead.)

I've crashed, had rattlesnakes swipe at me and frogs leap about my tires. Been stared down by a coyote. Had to take shelter from 102f heat to collect myself. Seen a Mountain Lion. Sometimes, things happen when you are alone because you are not with a noisy group. Sometimes, the peace is truly golden.

http://img716.imageshack.us/img716/7...letrack.th.jpg

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Sometimes, things happen when you are alone because you are not with a noisy group.

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I saw a group of mommy elk with their babies this past weekend, awwwwwwww.

I'm loving this thread. Especially the creepy yelling guy in the ski mask!

So, I still ride alone most of the time, and still don't think to carry a cell phone. And don't even know how to text. :rolleyes: And, as far as telling someone where I'll be and when I'll be back, well, ..... the last time I made a point to tell DH where I was going, he looked up, said "Huh? Why are you telling me this?" and went back to what he was doing. Apparently he a) trusts me to take care of myself, and b) can't imagine that anything might go so terribly awry that he'd have to come and find me.

I was, however, riding with someone last July when I broke my ankle - fortunately she knew the trails we were on, because I did not. I'm still not thinking to carry my phone, even after that. Probably because the chances of having service are pretty slim. I'm pretty sure that I'd be spending the night in the woods tonight if I'd had trouble - unlikely that anyone would have happened upon me (it's April - just not that many people riding yet, even though the snow is mostly gone).

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Originally Posted by lph

But I was curious as to how several of you mention "creepy guys". What makes them creepy?

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I ride alone on biking trails all the time. I don't have any trail buddies, yet, and my husband doesn't enjoy riding like I do. What makes a guy "creepy" to me (and unfortunately I've been running into a few of them lately) is that they look completely out of place. Not like a casual stroller,biker, jogger or nature observer. It's hard to explain, it's more of a feeling or intuition than anything concrete. Usually it's in a remote location where there is no one around. That might make someone who normally wouldn't make me feel threatened, seem more sinister.

Yes, I mountain bike alone.

One day while riding alone my husband saw a group of ninjas. No I am not kidding, they must have been role playing or UT film students (they were recording). I was riding at the same trail but I missed them, darn. Weirdest thing I have seen alone is someone riding a unicycle on the trail.

Yep - I ride alone on the road and the trails. I like my own company and am happy to ride alone. I find I probably ride harder when I do than when I ride with friends since I don't spend so much time chatting! And since I am not noted for my hill climbing talents, I enjoy going out for long hill climbs by myself so I am not pressured to ride to somebody else's rhythm or feel I'm holding anybody up. :) And I feel safer doing a long firetrail hill climb rather than hitting up single track by myself (which is not say I don't do that now and again too).

I don't think I've ever really felt afraid due to "creepies" although there are always plenty of idiots who will heckle given a chance! I sometimes ride on the road at night - DH and I often tag team if we go to friends or family for dinner. He will ride there and I will ride home. And I have also been known to ride in the forest by myself at night. That is just a little spooky sometimes but always so beautifully peaceful. When I ride dirt at night alone I am pretty much confined to trails I am 100% confident with. Our local forest is only about a mile away on bikeway.

I have really fantastic lights (Ay-Ups on the front and helmet, and RoadID Supernova blinky on the rear) and I always carry a toolkit, spares, pump, CO2, a compact first aid kit and foil blanket, a compass, whistle, snack, pen and paper, RoadID and my mobile phone. Oh - and I have my Garmin which some enterprising local has produced trail maps for, so I can always work out where I am. And DH usually knows where I'm going.

We don't have too much in the way of wildlife I would be afraid of, although DH got bitten by a spider one night and we do get ticks now and again. The closest call I had was almost colliding with an owl one night. I wasn't sure what was sitting on the trail until I got quite close, and when it took off it nearly flew straight through me and the bike!:eek: Not sure who got the bigger fright.:confused:

Oh - and we have toads. Big slimey cane toads! On summer nights when the weather has been damp there are hundreds and thousands of the blighters on the trails. You can ride right up to them and just about over the top of them before the deign to get out of the way. I am quite terrified I will run over one by accident, slip on it and fall, coming face to face with the horrid gnarly thing!:eek: Actually, a couple of times I have been riding along and one has jumped as I rode toward it and has collided with my shin and then been flung through the air as I kept pedalling. YUUUUUUUCCKKKKK!!!!

I'm going to revive this one, since it's been interesting reading today.

I almost always ride alone. And by almost always, I mean I've ridden with another person maybe 3 times, ever (but the last time I taught my sister how to mountain bike!). I'm more afraid of getting lost than getting hurt since I sometimes ride trails in places I've never been with maps that tend to suck, but I'll admit to walking some VERY easy trail sections in Telluride simply because there was a 75-foot drop beside the trail and no phone service. And no one knew or cared where I was.

I will also admit that after reading this thread and thinking about it, I'm probably holding myself back by riding alone because I'm not with someone who has expectations to live up to (or not) and I will walk things that I might try under pressure.

On the other hand, I absolutely HATE running by myself. Kind of weird.

I ride alone most of the time, but its on a well used walking and riding trail - unfortunately its only 4 miles long, but its a mile from my house. I also carry 'mace' with me.

Rattlesnakes, rocky courses, poor cell phone coverage and horrible maps keep me from riding alone. Now sometimes I will go on without DH while he rides a technical section and the funny thing is I ride better. But I only ride better without DH, I ride great with some of the women I ride with. Truly bizarre.

My biggest fears are finally seeing a rattlesnake, then crashing. Since I was a child at least once a month I dream I am in a house (or elsewhere) surrounded by rattlers. For many years I was convinced I would die from meeting one but now I know the number of deaths each year is relatively low. Permanent disfigurement at the bite site is what I worry about, I saw someone who hard a gnarled hand from a rattler bite. Funny thing is I have seen more snakes (cottonmouths and bull snakes mostly) running than riding but I still like to run alone. :p

I went alone this morning and it was great! It was a very busy trail, not super technical and there were a lot of riders but oddly I was alone on almost every part of the 13 miles of single track. It was like I was just behind or just ahead of all the other riders, nice and relaxing. No snakes just one small whitetail doe, a squirrel and some dogs. It is an off leash park, the dogs were particularly bratty today. If you are going to let your dog off leash make sure it isn't going to chase hikers and cyclists and that it will listen to you!:rolleyes: Otherwise it was a very good ride, no wrecks and a lot of fun. I will go alone to this trail again. I still prefer on more technical ones to use the buddy system.

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Originally Posted by Aggie_Ama

My biggest fears are finally seeing a rattlesnake, then crashing...

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That actually happened to me about 10 years ago! It was my most frightening moment MTBing alone. I was going up a long fire road climb in the summer heat, just zoned out. It was after an el-nino winter so it was really rutted except for the right side which was on the high side of the hillside, with a lot of dried foot tall grass. Just the right place for a rattler to doze off, but I was not thinking of that. I was really not thinking about anything except the smoothest part of the trail and the heat.

Next thing I knew, was this motion and scraping sound on my right about next to my front tire. Too late to do anything except pedal faster. Time then took a real dive. I had plenty of time to think about everything I was doing. Speed up, look back. What's that? Big mouth. BIG MOUTH gonna get caught in my rear spokes! Two sails. Not teeth. They look like skin sails. Missed me missed the bike pedal faster oh crap in a rut- down I go. Maybe a few seconds but forever. I sat up and realized that the rattler was a few feet behind my bike, which was between me and it. It was rattling away very loud. Now for the weird part. It then decided that it did not like being hemmed in on the high side, so it crossed the trail just behind my bike, maybe 10 feet from me as I sat there. The whole time it was rattling and turning it's head towards me. Very pissed off snake. I got a real good look at it- it was around 6~7 feet long- and very big in the middle. It curled up under a bush on the edge of low side and kept rattling. I got up and could not believe my luck, the rattler must have been spooked by me and was not in a good position to strike. Lucky me.

I had to wait for a while, about 10 minutes, hoping it would stop rattling and go away as the trail is used by horse riders and mtb'ers and I just didn't want to leave a pissed snake on the side of the road. Finally it stopped, and I thought it was ok so took one step towards my bike but it began rattling again! I was about 30 ft away by then, it was still pissed! I warned a few mtb'ers who came by and it rattled away as they passed. 20 more minutes later I finally left.