Overnight bike touring

[shootingstar]

I have a good long time friend who is an experienced cyclist for fitness and touring. She's been a cyclist for the last 25 years. She is also career-wise a transportation policy analyst. Has handled cycling and transit matters.

So someone who is very aware of her own personal experiences as well as some broader trends in active transportation, etc.

She's been on 6 different group cycling tours -ranging from 1 to 2 wks. long per trip --in Quebec, U.S. and Europe. She has always found the co-ed cycling group tours very rarely attract single women. She herself is single..etc. She has not yet gone on RAGBRAI, RVSP, etc. type of rides. She's done some day long massive group rides in Ontario..and doesn't find it entirely her taste.

She has done 2 solo bike rides on her..each over 1-2 wks. long.

She also believes women who solo tour by bike with their gear on multiple day trips with overnights camping or hotel, are still rare. She has done 2 group tours with an all-women's bike touring company and is not surprised the U.S. market, can only support this niche type of bike touring.

I'm probably a great example of being risk adverse ...I have not yet done 1 solo overnight bike trip yet. Even though I've cycle-toured with my partner on a wide range of bike trips on our own for the past 2 decades. Could I do one? Yes, for several nights, not camping, but hotel or b 'n b. But it would have to be a route where I felt comfortable dealing with road traffic between towns/cities. I also need to know the route well and not complicated by highway interchanges that I didn't know in advance. I have cycled solo for 100 km. in 1 day several times in the cities where I've lived and enjoyed the challenge.

[Crankin]

I wouldn't do it, either, but neither would my DH! We all have our limits. DH just wouldn't want to be responsible for everything, and he wouldn't camp at all. We did one supported (sort of) tour with camping and we found that while we like camping, we don't like it when it's combined with riding.
I don't especially enjoy long hours in the saddle by myself. My navigation skills are just OK, and frankly, I like to know where I am going, conditions, etc. I am always anxious in the beginning of any ride that I haven't done before, whether it's in my area or not. I've trained myself to calm down, but being on a group tour makes me feel safe. I don't necessarily ride with the group, but I am always with one person. I just don't like the feeling of being out there, alone.

[azfiddle]

I think I would be willing to go for a short distance, but would be more comfortable with at least one riding partner in case of a mechanical problem. I don't mind camping but it would depend on the area.

I've just done one 2 night weekend camping trip with my husband so far.

[ny biker]

I know some single women who do touring. Sometimes with an organized group, sometimes unsupported on a route they planned themselves. I'm pretty sure they're always with at least one other person, though I think that's as much for companionship as anything else.

I absolutely would not go on an overnight bike trip by myself, for safety reasons and also because it is just not the type of trip I would want to do without having someone else to talk to. I would not do any camping trip alone, related to cycling or not. If I was interested in a multi-day ride, I would do it as part of a group as long as I either knew the group beforehand or it was with an established company.

But honestly, I'm not interested in doing multi-day rides, at least not at this point in my life. Maybe down the road sometime.

[ridebikeme]

I'm headed on a solo tour tomorrow, and certainly understand what all of you are saying. I will admit that I would certainly think about where I am going a bit more when going solo, but it just didn't work out for my normal group of friends... and the last one bailed on me yesterday. So with vacation planned and the shop closed, well I certainly couldn't NOT ride.

[rebeccaC]

have a great tour ridebikeme!!!!

I do day rides by myself a lot. Some of my routes have other women riding alone too. I’ve enjoyed the adventure of camping multi-day rides by myself for a number of years, especially in Europe. On a few of those rides I’ve also come across another single woman rider to ride with within the first few days. I found a lot of women riding alone on Ragbrai when I did that with some friends. When camping I usually carry my hammock, which can be used as a tent when needed and has a rainfly, bug net and is less than 2 lbs.

I’ve done self-defense martial arts for a number of years as a confidence builder with the physical ability to quickly cause injury if I need to. Although I don’t think about it much I’m sure that it helps mentally and emotionally when I’m riding alone.