Getting over not wanting to ride alone

[maillotpois]

Oak will you ride motorcycles alone?

I just ask because for me it is a very similar thing - you are just alone in your head for however long the ride is. With the moto I am a bit more "on" than on the bike, as I can let my thoughts wander more on the bicycle and not get into trouble. But it is all the process of balancing the drifting thoughts with what I need to stay safe on whatever 2 wheeled transport I am on at that time.

[Pedal Wench]

I'm quite shy and borderline anti-social, so I have the opposite problem. Plus, I can rarely find people willing to do the distances I like to do. I don't like riding alone at night, though, so for brevets, I have to try to build up a partnership to ride with. I passed on a recent 400K and 600k because I didn't want to ride alone all night.

[woohoo]

Maybe it's the geek in me, but I find bike data quite motivational when riding on my own... Can I get to a set mileage this week? How fast can I do the same trips? etc Sure it's more fun to ride with other people, but I can still enjoy being out and about because it's helping me to meet my (fairly randomly assigned!) goals.

L ; )

[Pedal Wench]

Maybe it's the geek in me, but I find bike data quite motivational when riding on my own... Can I get to a set mileage this week? How fast can I do the same trips? etc Sure it's more fun to ride with other people, but I can still enjoy being out and about because it's helping me to meet my (fairly randomly assigned!) goals.

L ; )

You should join Plus3Network! They're always running challenges that keep me motivated - I even get motivated to not only complete their challenges, but to be one of the first to finish!

[jobob]

Interesting thread!

I enjoy riding alone, because I like to be able to go at my own pace, stop when I want to stop, that sort of thing.

I think my enjoyment of riding solo originated in part from the fact that so many of my riding friends are such super-strong riders ( heh, you know who you are ). I would often feel so bad holding them up, making them wait for me at the top of climbs, that sort of thing.

Now, I want to make it perfectly clear that said friends are all super-cool and have never EVER given me any reason to stress out over my sluggitude. This guilt trip was entirely self-inflicted (as guilt trips can often be ).

But, that said, at times it was actually a relief for me to go out on a ride by myself and not have to feel guilty about holding others up.

(And one of the many reasons why I had joined the TNT Death Ride team was to become a stronger rider and eliminate that particular little guilt trip. The joke's on me, I guess! )

[jobob]

I'm quite shy and borderline anti-social, so I have the opposite problem. Plus, I can rarely find people willing to do the distances I like to do. I don't like riding alone at night, though, so for brevets, I have to try to build up a partnership to ride with. I passed on a recent 400K and 600k because I didn't want to ride alone all night.

Maybe next year we can find a brevet to do do together. If all goes well I'm hoping to get up to at least a 300K, and who knows, perhaps even a 400

[Pedal Wench]

Maybe next year we can find a brevet to do do together. If all goes well I'm hoping to get up to at least a 300K, and who knows, perhaps even a 400

I would LOVE to do that! Depending on the 300K, we're in darkness, and that's when I'm uncomfortable. Either a 300 or 400K would be fine with me - and I would love the company.

(Plus, what an amazing opportunity to meet ya!)

[shootingstar]

In the past, in a different city, one of my regular cycling routes 'coursed through some isolated ravine parks, then long swaths of parkland with hardly anyone and by wilder areas by a waterfront. I felt much safer on a bike when alone..compared to the lone joggers I saw, especially early in morning when I started off alot of my daily riding.

How do some solo joggers feel comfortable in certain isolated areas? Yes, cars are dangerous but this is why I try to design regular routes that reduce my daily exposure to heavy/fast car traffic for long stretches of distance.

So when I see lone joggers in such situations, it actually motivates me to keep on moving along. I know, I'm wierd..

First few years I did put on my cyclometer and tracked mileage daily. But gave that up, when I found it demotivated me..ie. days I didn't do as much I flogged myself.

Since I do regular routes solo, I generally do know my mileage each time. (Or if I'm riding with him on an "atypical" route, I know mileage via him). So for the month of May, to my shock last night, I calculated I would have done just abit over 1,000 kms. I have done no bike touring trips this month. So if I continue like this until end of Sept., that's over 5,000 kms. (as I said 40% would be done solo)...but that's assuming I'm still unemployed by that time. I have SUCH mixed feelings about this sort of potential "achievement" under not the greatest time in life.

Oh well, might as well make the best of it.