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Biking: alone or with friends?

21K views 214 replies 174 participants last post by  russinthecascades 
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#1 ·
Because of my job I have little time for my leisure, I can not plan rides with my friends, so often I pedal alone. The first few times I did not like it, now I enjoy the full benefits of this situation.
And you?
 
#2 ·
Before I moved I had a lot of friends that would "ride." And by "ride" I mean they would talk about it all the time while their bikes sat in the garage collecting dust because they would always had a reason why they couldn't come with this time.

I usually road alone or with my wife. My bike friends sucked big time. And the once or twice a year they would actually come out and ride they would complain that were tired after literally 30 minutes of cross country single track.
 
#23 · (Edited)
Nothing turns you off more than listening to your buddies complaining about the ride being too tough or scary especially when it's not. And YES! they do tend to own very expensive bikes. I ride alone 99% of the time a couple of times a week. I can ride as long as I want, as hard as I want, as fast as I want, and as slow as I want.

Before I moved I had a lot of friends that would "ride." And by "ride" I mean they would talk about it all the time while their bikes sat in the garage collecting dust because they would always had a reason why they couldn't come with this time.

I usually road alone or with my wife. My bike friends sucked big time. And the once or twice a year they would actually come out and ride they would complain that were tired after literally 30 minutes of cross country single track.
I know that kind of behavior... generally they have very expensive bikes and accessories!
I also pedal with my wife
 
#4 ·
I'm kinda like you, I work six days a week. So my ride time is valuable. Most of my friends work 8-5 and have weekends to ride. Occasionally I get off at 4ish so I hate to wait around for them and get caught in traffic. If I can sneak a quickie in I'll do so. Lately, I've grown accustomed to riding by myself.
 
#5 ·
my wife and I did a half ironman together last year so we road together a lot while training, unfortunately most of it was road rides on our cross bikes. This year were doing a full so it'll probably be alot more of the same but we now live in the mountains so at least I'll get to ride dirt after work whenever I want.
 
#6 ·
I too have an odd work schedule and try to ride at least one of my days off. Since my friends do not have days off during the week, I ride alone. I enjoy it for the most part, there are times on my longer rides I wish I had company though.
 
#8 ·
I found that riding with friends is a totally different situation than 'going for a ride' None of my friends are riders, they have bikes, a lot of them more expensive than mine, but they always have an excuse not to ride, or they are too out of shape and I spend the entire time waiting for them to push up a hill. I like my friends, but they suck as riding partners. I found a different group to ride with. People who are equally obsessed with riding. I ride with the family, but that is more an exercise in patience. I have my huntin' buddies, guitar playin' buddies, flyin' buddies, and ridin' buddies. Not a whole lot of overlap. Most of the time a just ride by myself.
 
#9 ·
I ride by myself at least 80% of the time. I ride with my wife once in a while and my kids have started to join me. Most of my friends think I'm insane for mountain biking ( you might get hurt,oh my!). I have a couple of friends with mountain bikes but they are too busy with family stuff or house projects/chores most of the time. We have fun when we do get out there, but I don't worry about it. I actually like riding by myself more anyways. I can go as fast as I want, ride as long as I want, can stop for a break if I want to, pick where I want to go ride etc. It is kind of refreshing. I certainly don't go out of my way trying to find new riding buddies.
I suspect I'll do more riding with my kids in the next 5 years or so. That should be fun.
 
#10 ·
I ride alone probably 99% of the time. I like the flexibility of setting my pace and distance on how I feel that day. I do enjoy getting out with friends when I can but most aren't available on weekday mornings when I ride.
 
#11 ·
BAsically I just have 2 regular people I ride with and they are out of town. The MTB scene in the FT Hood area, while many ride, contains no organization at all. So much of the time I go it alone. On the rare occasion some new to the trail rider will timidly approach and ask u been here before, where's the trail or somesuch and then I get to drag them along.

edit---wow I disagree with what I am reading here. I am fairly introverted and takes me a while to warm up to folks but I would never not seek out or want people to ride with.
 
#12 ·
I have a group of about 22 people who have told me they are interested in riding with me. When I want to go, I send an email to the group with, "Hey, I'm going to ride X trail at X time. Let me know if you want to join me."

If it's a beginner, I put it in 3-4 and ride about 10 miles as a SS and then when they leave, I ride as fast and as far as I can for as much time as I have left.

Or, it works out that a bunch of people show and we break up in groups and plat turtle and the hare.
 
#59 ·
I have a group of about 22 people who have told me they are interested in riding with me. When I want to go, I send an email to the group with, "Hey, I'm going to ride X trail at X time. Let me know if you want to join me."
I have no hesitation about riding solo. I tend to send an email like this when none of my regular partners has suggested a ride, and I'm not feeling motivated enough to get out on my own. I haven't counted, but I imagine about half my rides are on my own.

In addition, I commonly have about 1-2 days a week with rides already planned ahead of time during a social setting or over beers: "Yeah, we should ride sometime; how about Thursday?"
 
#25 ·
My old riding friends are now too old to be riding. They just watch cheetos sports (on the tv - they eat cheetos and watch others play). I still have some roadie buddies.

The young guys can't stand riding with me because I push the bike up big hills. Fast, but still pushing. I'm 65 now and still riding and skiing the backcounty, now mostly alone. I like to travel solo, but I worry a bit about big cats watching me in the wild places I ride. Hell, I'm awful stringy and tough for a discerning cat anyway!
 
#26 ·
I'd say I ride my mountain bike alone about 2/3 of the time. I'd prefer to ride with others since most of the guys on my team are as fast/faster than me so it pushes me harder. However, everyone is really busy with school and most of the team are primarily roadies. On the road I ride with others about 90% of the time since I hate riding alone on the road.
 
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