Riding Solo advice

[Catrin]

I love mountain biking. When it works it is sweet riding down the trails with my bike feeling like it is on rails, surrounded by nature and the usual stress of daily life just disappears.

There are several trails I ride solo all the time, but my ride/fall ratio is still higher than I would like. As I get faster my falls are decreasing in number but get harder, which just proves the laws of physics are still working properly

I want/need to ride more to increase my skills, but to do that I need to move up to other trails. The trails I've in mind aren't THAT more more advanced, still classed as beginner, but they are more remote and are longer. The length of the ride is fine, I've the endurance, but if something should happen that deep in the woods and I am solo then that could be a problem and my phone has very poor reception in the woods.

I am the only person I know at my mtb level, and I hate to ask people more advanced than I to ride because I know they have to really dial it back just to stay in screaming distance of me. What fun is that for them? I still do this once in a while, but try not to ask the same person very often because they need to get their ride on as well. Most women I know who ride have very busy schedules with few chances to ride at all which makes me even more reluctant to ask them.

I've pretty much reached the decision that I shouldn't ride more difficult (to me) trails without a riding partner....but that REALLY decreases my chances to ride. I can't progress without riding, but I also want to do this wisely. It seems a Catch-22 situation. There are group rides for women that are developing but they all go to the more advanced trails. I've suggested a beginners ride in a couple of weeks, hopefully there will be some interest.

Is there another solution that I am not seeing? I suspect I should have just waited a year or two to build more cycling experience, but I didn't