Do you feel this is safe?

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I keep some pepper spray on my frame where I can grab it, plus a cell phone with me. And always tell someone where you are going to ride that day. If you live alone, leave a note on your kitchen table as to where you are riding.
If you encounter anything remotely suspicious, pedal in the other direction immediately rather than being afraid to look 'foolish' by turning around.

[SouthernBelle]

That's my favorite kind of riding. Carry a cell.

[CyclaSutra]

Or take a self-defense class if you worry about being 'napped. The first summer I lived out in Wyoming (11 years ago) a woman disappeared while running alone on a rural route. Her husband's name has been cleared officially, but most people here still think he did it. This is why I'm not printing her name.

But I was 22 and scared, so I got a dog for a hiking companion (and cause I like dogs). Her body's never been found. Now that I'm older, and nothing like that has happened since anywhere in the vicinity, and I have a self-defense class under my belt, I never worry about being attacked by a person. Bear, cougar, yes, crazy person, no. I've also read "The Gift of Fear," a fabulous book about listening to your intuition, as Bleecker referred to. It will freak you out for a week or so, but you'll feel better after reading it. There's also very, very little random crime here (one instance per decade?) which is why we think her husband killed her.

[Geonz]

If you're where there are many people, it's far more likely one of 'em will be a bad guy

I ride alone very often. I see people now and then out there. They wave. Okay, one guy was prob'ly schnokkered and said "hey, young LADY!" ... in a completely surprised, not leering voice, so I think he was just amazed that I wasn't a guy, and of course by the time he processed that bit of information I was another mile down the road.

When driver's have been aggressive at me, it's been in town, not out in the boonies... tho' I do feel vulnerable. I am not going to let that vulnerability control my life, at least not today. I think of all the other people who are even more vulnerable on the planet - women who have to go to dangerous jobs, are working for nasty people who have power over them... some of 'em making hte products I've bought. Or I think about how many miles I have to go and plot when I"m going to hit which corner and try to beat it.

(And the bad stuff is awfully rare. I did 10,000 miles last year and maybe four times somebody did something *potentially* obnoxious/harmful.)

[Melalvai]

I was hiking in the woods one afternoon and I stood aside so a group of older folks on horseback could make their way past me on the trail. One lady said, "You're so brave to be out here by yourself."

The only crime I'd heard of in those woods was a young lady who committed suicide, way over on the other side of the park. We've had I don't know how many shootings make the news in town recently, and who knows how many crimes that are too mundane to make the news. In fact if she'd killed herself in her dorm we wouldn't have heard about it at all.

[uforgot]

I do it all the time and our rural gravel roads are as remote as they get! It's beautiful, peaceful and some of my best rides.

[Starfish]

I do it.

There are some areas where I would like to go, but they are known to be infested with meth folks and folks hostile to cyclists, and I haven't gone there alone, yet.

I'm thinking of getting a little .380 I saw...super small, super light.

[mimitabby]

I was walking down an alley in Pioneer Square, Seattle (downtown) and some men saw me and said; "aren't you afraid to be alone here?" to which I responded, "no, not really"

City, Country, have common sense and have fun.

[Flybye]

I ride alone, too. Pretty much all we have around here are rural back country roads. There is nothing like riding next to fields of corn, open fields, or Russian Olives. I have taken a women's self defense class but I don't know how much I would remember if push came to shove. I carry pepper spray with me on my handlebars. I always let someone know where I am going and approximately when I will be back. I always carry my cell phone. Other than that, it's in the hands of the good Lord to get me home safely!

[SlowButSteady]

I just got back from 21 miles alone on rural roads. On many rides, I meet or get passed by less than one car per mile or two.

I have a route that I love and I can ride this distance without ever being more than 6 or 7 miles' walk from home in case of a flat, mechanical problem, etc. I take a cell phone and pepper spray.

I'm much more afraid of crashing because I'm a klutz than anything else. Every once in a while I fall off but have never had to call DH to come pick me up.

Every once in a while some dumb redneck yells something at me.

Once when out running on these old backroads, a man stopped, got out of his car and walked around it *at* me.

I made ready to dismember him with my cell phone, which was the only thing I had with me at the time. Fortunately, I didn't have to defend myself.

I now remember to take my pepper spray.