Riding Solo - staying safe

[missjean]

Much of my riding is done solo, both mtb & road and I can't think of a time that I felt threatened - opps, take that back - years ago I was mtb riding in the woods about 2 miles from my house and as I rode into a clearing there was a young guy firing a big hand gun into pile of logs. I stopped, he stopped, lowered the gun, and I continued on. That made be a bit uneasy.

A number of women I have talked to about riding over the years have worried about their safety and are surprised that I don't mind riding alone. I've sometimes thought that maybe it has something to do with physical size. At
5' 8" and 160, I'm no little bitty thing. I might think differently if I was 5' & 95lbs. But then again, my friend who rode much of the Continental Divide solo is only 5' 3" and about 125lbs.

Maybe what it gets down to is the illusion of control, and proper risk assessment. The more in control you feel, the more safe you feel. The most common example used is probably flying in an airplane vs. driving your car. Driving your car is one of the most dangerous things you can do, but you are in complete control vs. flying, which is one of the most safe means of transportation, but so many people are terrified of flying, probably because it is completely out of their control.
And, risk assessment - maybe assault is a major problem in the area where you live, and then taking sensible precautions is good. But, so often we are frightened by the relentless pounding in the media of how we live in "dangerous times" (like life for humans has not always been dangerous ) and that clouds our thinking.
If we really stopped and thought about all that could go wrong with anything we do, we would never get out of bed!


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