Do you mountain bike alone?

[brigitte]

I usually ride alone. I will only do trails I know, so if there is something new to try I will wait for a riding buddy to try it with. I always carry a cellphone - even if reception is spotty you can sometimes get a text message out. I always carry a snack and H20. I too am single but will let someone know (neighbor, family or one of my daughters) approximately where I am riding and an estimating return time - I will even say "if you don't hear from me by "X" time then I am in trouble." I then make sure inform them of my return. If there is no one around to tell, I have left a note on my dining room table that explains my whereabouts.

I ride conservatively when I am alone. I am a nurse so relatively simple injuries I can handle by tearing a jersey as a tourniquet or to wrap a wound. I have a small set of tools/repair kit with me with a pump and ALWAYS take daylight into consideration.

Don't let being alone stop you!... some of the best stuff I have done was when I was alone, there is obviously no one to compete with besides yourself and I have found that to be liberating. Plus, you can zip along fast because your not chatting as much as you would if you had company.

good luck!

[Miranda]

What a good thread. I could have wrote the same post.

So far I have a combo of scheduling conflicts, to being a performance scardy cat to ride with anyone else. Both trail and road, I'm alone.

For injury on the trail (& I do have some first aid w/me), if I question that I can do it, I don't. I would rather ride than rehab.

Mechanical, I carry a multitool, but figure if worse, I could hike it out. I do now own and carry some form of light with me. I try to have the map, but bought a cheap compass as well.

RoadID has some folks in their company that I love. I just have a basic wrist ID after a near Jane Doe road kill one day at dusk. I own their FireFlys too and a new one I received broke when putting it together. No problem, they sent me a new one even before receiving the broken one, return postage paid envelop "at my convenience". My cell phone also has an ICE # (In Case of Emergency). Responders are trained to look for this.

OKAAAYY... it's the twin brothers of Charles Manson that worry me the most. On my road bike, I feel like I can pedal away faster from Chuck. On the single track... not so. One of my favorite places is SO isolated. Thus, it's beauty. The parking lot is not even visible from the main road. I always take note of any cars in the lot. Me, only vehicle with a bike rack on it, says yep, bike chick. I once road the trail another way back into the woods with this vibe that the Mason hiker was lurking by my parked vehicle.

This is still giving me a chill... last time I was there, I had this gutt feel to take my bike out onto the lake's pier. Normally, I leave it on the trail. My inner voice said, "Miranda, take the bike with you". I had NO idea that this guy hiked up behind me on the pier. The lake frogs were signing like crazy, he had on very quite tennis shoes, and around I turn to see this man two foot from me. Just standing still... staring... speechless. I politely said "hello", mounted my bike and road the he$$ out of there as fast as I could without killing myself.

One of my friends said I might take note of the license plates when I am out there (in an effort to ID the Manson family). I was alone in the lot that day when I started. Still just creeps me out.