Do any of you ride organized rides alone?

[Brandy]

Great job on your solo ride!

I do all of my organized rides alone...unless I'm on the back of the tandem. I will hook up with pacelines, but I never plan to stick with a particular person or group. The more that you get out there alone, the more confidence you will gain.

[Blueberry]

It's rare for me to go to an organized ride alone, but I generally ride them alone, and frequently ride from my home alone. On the organized rides, DH usually does a different distance (and so, a different route), and he rides much faster anyway. I've spend 30+ miles alone *on an MS Ride* (I'm slow). The sweeps stay behind the last rider (I usually volunteer to do that for my local club). It's normal that you wouldn't have seen them - especially if you weren't the last rider coming in. When I'm sweeping, I usually try to check in on the last rider(s), but won't crowd them or ride with them the entire time (I don't want them to feel hurried).

Congratulations!!!

CA

[Zen]

See the post by NY Biker and put my name instead.

I do exactly the same thing.
I generally prefer riding alone; other people make me nervous. I do enjoy the camaraderie at the end.

[SadieKate]

Yep. Last organized ride was a 100 mi century around Mt Bachelor. Wait a minute, let's strike "organized" from that comment. The 2 "rest stops" were someone's pick-up parked on the side of a road with the tail gate down. With only about 100 riders total, I spent much of my time alone. It was nice that as I turned into the headwind two nice broad and tall pairs of shoulders showed up.

[shootingstar]

Great job on your solo ride!
.............................................................................................
The more that you get out there alone, the more confidence you will gain.

+1 You will become a far more adventuresome cyclist by learning to cycle alone on your own. Just imagine, one day soon you can lead a lengthy ride without problems. Seriously.

And this will increase the chances a great deal that you will stay cycling for the rest of your life without relying on another cyclist to accompany you.

[uforgot]

I do all of my rides alone. None of my friends ride. I've driven to all of the surrounding states to ride organized rides. I drive alone, stay in KOAs and ride alone. I've always had to have my space anyway. This summer I'm planning on hitting Austin and maybe Utah. Alone.

[sfa]

I've only ever ridden alone, organized rides or not. I met up with a couple of people while touring in the past, but didn't stick with them for long--I prefer riding alone and setting my own pace and stopping when I want to stop. I also like traveling alone better than with people. I love my family, but sometimes I wish they'd just go away and let me enjoy new places by myself!

Sarah, Curmudgeon-in-training

[uforgot]

I've only ever ridden alone, organized rides or not. I met up with a couple of people while touring in the past, but didn't stick with them for long--I prefer riding alone and setting my own pace and stopping when I want to stop. I also like traveling alone better than with people. I love my family, but sometimes I wish they'd just go away and let me enjoy new places by myself!

Sarah, Curmudgeon-in-training

A soul sister! I have friends who just don't understand. My family does, however. Have you ever read Party of One: The Loner's Manifesto?

[gingerale]

Wow! Inspiration all around here!! My dh doesn't ride with me and my dad lives 6 hrs away so I ride at home alone most of the time, but never alone on an actual organized thing before this past weekend. Now I know it's definitely doable and I plan on doing more as the opportunities present themselves.

[sfa]

A soul sister! I have friends who just don't understand. My family does, however. Have you ever read Party of One: The Loner's Manifesto?

Sounds like a good book--I'll have to look for it the next time I'm at the library. Thanks for the suggestion!

DH and I are pretty much the same about liking our time alone, especially when we travel. It's nice because it means we can ditch each other for the day if we want and neither of us takes offense.

Sarah

[Pedal Wench]

I've just done my second 300K on my own. I'm not too comfortable riding alone after dark, so I just hang out with anyone else riding my pace, if there is. The first one, I was alone all night too, and the last one, I had to slow down just a touch, but welcomed the company. For the whole daylight part, though, I was on my own. I like myself, so I had fun.

[kjay]

All of my rides are alone, even my first tour, which was around the Big Island. Of course, once you get there, you aren't really alone, are you? There are so many others around, but you don't have to ride with them.

[gingerale]

All of my rides are alone, even my first tour, which was around the Big Island. Of course, once you get there, you aren't really alone, are you? There are so many others around, but you don't have to ride with them.

I think it was more along the lines of not seeing another cyclist for 14 miles that had me a little nervous. Kept checking my map to make sure I was definitely going the right way thinking I HAD to have made a wrong turn somewhere.

[withm]

I think it was more along the lines of not seeing another cyclist for 14 miles that had me a little nervous. Kept checking my map to make sure I was definitely going the right way thinking I HAD to have made a wrong turn somewhere.

Nearly all my rides are alone. And yes, been there, done that. Missed a turn on one "organized, supported" ride, and ended up with an extra 15 miles, in the rain. When I finally got back to the start, not a car in sight anywhere, missed the lunch, and worse - the opportunity to go inside the ladies room and change into dry clothes. So I did that in my car. Ohhhh I was annoyed! Well I was more than that but I won't say that here.

[Triskeliongirl]

My club sponsored the event, and I posted something in the regional section http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showthread.php?t=30087. Too bad you didn't contact me, we could have met up. Maybe you missed it, but your map had an emergency number you could have used if you needed assistance. The fellow answering the emergency line (husband of our bike club pres) would have then dispatched a nearby sag to pick you up. There were markings on the roads, but not at every turn, more where there were splits between different routes. But detailed route maps and cue sheets were provided in the bags. I thought the route markings were adequate, with so many different routes offered each day it would have been impossible to mark every turn on every route.

I did the metric century on saturday. Great ride! You should have stuck around for saturday too. We did the eagle's nest. The first time I did this I had to walk for part of it, the second time I got up with mountain gearing and thought my heart was gonna pound out of my chest, and this year I sailed up w road gearing, passing others as I went. Cool.........