I think part of the fear of riding alone is instilled in us as young children. It was no big deal for my brother to go exploring in the woods, but my mom was worried about me doing that! There were so many dangers for a young girl alone! Sheesh.

DH said he used to not worry about me riding alone until he started watching those magazine shows on Friday/Saturday night. He made the comment how there's hardly ever an episode about a man going missing, but there's weeks and weeks worth of episodes of women disappearing while running or hiking. He freaks out about me going alone now

Zoom-Zoom, I'm not a fan of riding alone on the trails by us. But I've been on them enough that I know quite a few short cuts if I were to get in trouble. I can take you out sometime and show you some of them. I also wear an emergency whistle on my camelbak and carry an emergency blanket. It may be over the top, but after watching 127 hours, I've started carrying a good knife too. I don't want to have to do something like that with a cheap piece of crap.