Mountain Bike Reviews Forum banner

Riding by yourself?

8K views 58 replies 28 participants last post by  sooshee 
#1 ·
Just outta curiosity, how many of you girls hit the trails alone? And if you do, how often? I've been riding a lot on my own lately, and one thing I notice is that the time I come upon other women on the trail, they almost always have someone else with them, usually a guy.

For me it's about 50-50. Half the time I'm usually with a friend, and the other half of the time I like to go on solo-adventures. :thumbsup:
 
#33 ·
Ladies (and gents)...try not to ride alone.

Too many horror stories have hit my ears about downed riders laying stranded on a trail for an hour or so before someone could get to them to help. It may seem great and you might be super careful but you just have no idea what could happen.

Just recently there was a story in my local area of a guy who went out on the road with a huge group. They hit some ice on the road and one of the guys skidded out and into a tree. He died even with immediate medical care due to the people in his group calling 911.

I know road and mtn are different but in some ways mtn has just as many hazards as road. Just stay safe...take someone with you (girl, guy, whoever) whenever possible. You just never know what can happen.
 
#34 ·
Ladies (and gents)...try not to ride alone.

Too many horror stories have hit my ears about downed riders laying stranded on a trail for an hour or so before someone could get to them to help. It may seem great and you might be super careful but you just have no idea what could happen.
Obvious from my posts, I'll have to respectfully disagree...

In my opinion anything worthwhile is not without risk, but that doesn't mean you can't manage that risk. Ride with a cell phone so you can call for help. Let people know your itinerary. Know the conditions. Know your limits. I backcountry ski as well as and never ride alone (not to say I never will) and this if even more important.

Know and manage your risk... but don't be afraid!
 
#38 ·
I'm a nurse, and you wouldn't believe how many patients I end up taking care of at my hospital because they fell at home and laid there for 16+ hours before someone discovered them (and they're not always elderly). So you're right, things can happen anywhere. My basement stairs are stupidly steep and narrow, and I have fallen down them...

Take the necessary safeguards you need to... phone, let people know when/where/time, etc. You can't live your life worrying about the what if's.
 
#37 ·
I just started riding this past summer, and could only get out with my husband once a week so I did go out a few times on my own. The first ride I was a bit apprehensive. Mostly worried of having mechanical problems or getting lost. There was also the fear of getting hurt since I was so inexperienced. After the first ride I mapped out a nice little route that circled around so no fear of getting lost. I then travelled that trail at least 4 times a ride and the next time made it a bit longer and rode it over and over. All in all, I think it was good as I became comfortable with the ride and pushed myself to go faster. With that said I do prefer to ride with my hubby as I bust it to try and keep up but he's patient enough that he doesn't seem to mind waiting if I do have to go slow or walk. I hope the day will come where he doesn't have to wait!
 
#40 ·
More risk that lying in a house for 16+ hours? Jeez, I'd probably have someone find me sooner lying on the trail, and ours aren't even that heavily used...

The average US women's life expectancy is I believe just over 80 these days. There's a heck of a lot of randomness along the way of course, but there's also a fair amount of choice involved in how we fill that time between now and then. And I'm willing to bet $100 right now that I won't be sitting in a retirement home saying "gosh, I wish I hadn't ridden my bike so much...."

Riding vs not riding because you can't find anyone else? I say just let someone know where you're headed and get going. The days will come soon enough when the decision will be taken from us, and then we'll have to be content with the memories.

Just ride.
 
#41 ·
I ride by myself pretty much all of the time because my partner doesn't have a bike yet and my best friend only rides a handful of times during the year. I've tried getting some of my other friends to go on a bike ride but it's 50% doesn't have a bike and 50% doesn't feel comfortable riding for more than an hour at best.

So, I head out by myself. Luckily, I haven't had any creeper moments and anyone I've encountered on the trail (whether on foot or on a bike) has said hello and gone on by with limited chitchat. I always leave a map of my route and where I'm going at home with my partner, carry my cellphone, and generally use the gps setting on my phone to track my route (for purely nerd reasons, not for the detectives to figure out what happened to me after finding me), and carry a repair kit and first aid kit (I've only used it for others so far *knock wood*). The closest I've come to a bad encounter was a car full of idiots who drove slowly ahead of me and then would brake suddenly but it was on a residential street. I rode up onto someone's driveway and got off my bike just as the home owner drove up as well. He asked me if I was alright as the idiots drove off. He saw what the idiots were doing and wrote down the plate number for me. It never happened again.

It is quite nice riding on my own because I don't have to worry about anyone. My bestie rides a bike too big for her and she mostly rides with her fingers barely touching the handlebars. It's stressful watching her. I've begged her to get a shorter stem because she can't buy a smaller bike. But I'm working on her!
 
#42 ·
Solo mission

Here's a few self portraits from a quick weekend trip to Big Bend. I first drove out to Comfort, TX to race a mtb marathon then drove to Big Bend NP to camp and do a "rest" day hike. The next couple days I spent camping on the shores of the Rio Grande and mountain biking in Big Bend State Park. It was a solo mission, although I wish my boyfriend (who is out on the east coast for training) could have been there.
 

Attachments

#44 · (Edited)
My work schedule permits midweek solo rides that I truly enjoy. It was on one of these solitary spins that I met my first mountain lion. She ran off leaving me feeling more exhilarated than afraid. I draw the line at solo night riding; I tried it once and every little twig snap filled me with dread.
 
#45 ·
I have actually been considering making a thread on this very subject!

I ride alone 100% of the time. Most bikers around here are road bikers or seasonal. They are also better shape than me. I don't want to hold people back. Besides, I have a nice little trail system a couple miles from home. The biking/ walking path to it always has people, though it isn't heavy enough to be a problem to ride on. The bottom on the trails see heavy use by other people from the neighborhood who use it for mostly jogging, light hiking, and dog walking, but the trails are wide enough and the area is open enough so there is never congestion. There is a nice little picnic area at the 'top' of the easy trails with tables, canopies, and water fountains. People use it on occasion, and it is very well kept. I usually only go a couple miles past the top of the heavier trafficked 'easy' trails, though I plan on going much further in once I upgrade and my bike can handle the gnarlier stuff. The area is a desert, very open. Even when you get into the harder trails, as you go up, you can still see everything below. I have seen some dangerous desert areas, and this is not one of them. There is a trail system leading pretty far back, in addition to single track bikers have made around the sandier sections. I rarely see bikers, but I know they are there because of the well placed single track detours :)

Anywho, I get TONS of shocked reactions when people hear/ see me going up there alone. People ask me if I am worried or scared, and I frankly don't know what I am supposed to be worried or scared about. The area is too heavily trafficked with humans and their dogs for the coyotes to come down from the mountains, where they have plenty of room to hide. Same with the mountain lions. And the bighorns. I have never seen any of them. I have seen evidence of snakes, I have seen bunnies and roadrunners. I know how to avoid rattlers, I grew up in areas with them. They are the easiest kind of snake to avoid... There is no dangerous flora unless I go looking for it. Pretty much all scrub brush, the cactus is well off trail. Nothing poisonous. Jagged rocks and sand are my biggest enemies, and are predictable since they don't move. Never seen anyone I would classify as a 'creeper' up there either, though they do hang out along the heavily trafficked paved bike path... Even so, I am on a bike, and most people aren't. So there's that... The most dangerous thing in the deserts around here, hands down, is the heat. It is winter, so it is in the 70s with highs of 80s right now. Beautiful. And I am not stupid enough to go up there in July and August when it is 114. I have my phone, repair tools, lights, and a hydration bladder with plenty of water. Reception is only mildly spotty, and when you get far enough in where signal does drop out completely, you can always get it back by hiking to a high point 10 feet away... There are water fountains all along the bike/ walking path and at the foot of the trails.

What are people so worried about? Am I missing something, or are people around here just really paranoid? I get the shocked reactions so often, it has made ME paranoid. As a kid I often hiked alone in mountains, so why should I be worried about biking in the desert?
 
#46 ·
What are people so worried about? Am I missing something, or are people around here just really paranoid? I get the shocked reactions so often, it has made ME paranoid. As a kid I often hiked alone in mountains, so why should I be worried about biking in the desert?
Because society is uber paranoid now? I really have no idea... have you thought that it's maybe gender specific thing? In my area no one bats an eye at the thought of a male biking solo, but I tend to get a bunch of "oh, you could be assaulted and kidnapped!" comments from friends and family. I have a hard time believing someone is hiding in the woods waiting for a solo female mountain biker to come along so they can kidnap me... When I road ride, I actually find that motorists are actually nicer to me, at least it seems so. I guess a girl on a pink bike on the road isn't as bad as a dude in the same spandex, haha.
 
#48 ·
There definitely is an advantage of being a female rider; everyone is SUPER nice! Smiles, waves, most people move to the side of a trail for me with a smile. Drivers seem very aware of me, and give me the right of way even when they have it and I am giving it to them (I know/ follow all the traffic laws, I don't just ride nilly-willy through the streets).

Seniors seem to get the biggest kick out of seeing me take off through the desert. A few times now, there has been an older lady at the foot of the trails, or huffing and puffing up the easy stuff, who stop me to basically tell me 'You are going up there with a BIKE?! Good for you!' It's cute :p I figure it is just a generational thing where dirt bikes were always boys' things, and girls just rode their cruisers down main street.

My mom thinks I am nuts too, but is happy I found a sport I love :) My dad just rolls his eyes cause it is yet another 'boy thing' I am into... and better than him at. When I was little, he has a few shining years as the 'expert' in bikes (a tire kicker kind, if you know what I mean ;)), and well, the 'expert' in everything. I am also am better with computers and technology than him. His pride stops him from ever asking me for help with them, and he always pays someone to fix something I could have walked him through, or tried to fix it himself and made things worse (oh, like the time he was looking for spyware remover, and managed to instead find some scareware that attached itself to both his harddrive and bank account, and refused to let go ;)). He looked very lost and confused when I told him about bikes, and couldn't understand why anyone would pay more than like $500 for a bike. He was totally hung up on how much I was spending on my new build, and thought THAT was more nuts than the fact I was mountain biking. I laughed and told him some people pay over $20,000 for bikes, so $1200 is just a drop in the bucket :p Another generational thing, I think. He probably has only ever seen a rigid mountain bike and thinks suspension is a gimmick wally world invented for newbie bikers wanting to be comfortable, and it isn't a feature on a REAL bike. :p

Haha, sorry about the 'daddy' tangent. *stomps foot* I ain't a princess, so quit trying to pigeon-hole me into only girly interests! *pouts* :p I have a feeling I am not the only female rider who sometimes gets the eye-rolls because they are doing something that is 'meant for the boys'. ;) Girls seem to stick up for each other much more consistently in that regard than some boys who are card holding members of the 'He-man wumunz hayterz club'. But, overall, even if the respect some people give is merely an eye roll and pat on the head, there does seem to be a lot more general friendly attitude towards female riders instead of 'get offa my lawn you damn hooligans!' kind of way of looking at us.
 
#49 ·
My mom thinks I'm nuts, too, but my dad thinks it's pretty cool. He's super happy that I found something to get me off the couch and active. He's concerned about the money I spend, but he realizes it's something good in the long run. I use to drag race cars and most of my friends are guys, so I've always done more "guy" things anyway. My parents get a little worried about me riding alone (for both psychos getting me or me getting injured reasons), but I always assure them that my boyfriend knows I'm riding, and that I have that "Find My Friends" app turned on in my iPhone so he can track me.

Funny you say people yield to you more on the trails. I find it to be the opposite most of the time, even when I have the "right away" (going uphill, for example)! I don't know if guys think I'll be timid and just pull off for them or what. I've really had to learn to stand my ground better, especially on long climbs where I don't want to stop. I'm sick of always yielding for everyone, haha.
 
#50 ·
I think the biggest reason people yield to me is how *few* bikers there are. There isn't that pretentious cult attitude when there aren't popular biking trails, you know? The bikers on these trails seem to mostly be weekend warriors or polite, well behaved kids noodling around on their BMXes. I have gotten many noses turned up at me by passing road cyclists who can see me from the street, but people riding casually on the same trail as me are really nice. I have only had a nose turned up at me by a mountain biker a couple of times, and I recall them being young. It seems that boys stop maturing by the time they turn 14, and begin to mature again around 35 :p

Come to think of it, just on the paved path to the trails, I do get the occasional crabby old person going for a walk/ jog/ dog walk who get visibly incensed about moving over. One person was coming uphill, and saw me approaching DOWNHILL, and stopped in the middle of the path the fix her shoe. Her partner was trying to drag her out of the way, and she wouldn't budge. I had to come to a dead stop and wait for two people to quit hogging a path that is wide enough for a car to drive down... Some people also grab their little dogs like a set of pearls, but I can understand that since some dogs will want to chase/ run right at moving vehicles. I slow down when I pass dogs for this reason.

The people on the actual *trails*, however, are very well behaved and friendly!
 
#53 ·
jayseakay said:
But do you actively put yourself in positions where you can be in danger or possibly get hurt? That's not being brave and not paranoid...that's recklessness.
And this is probably a big reason why like 80% of Americans are overweight and obese. Because getting off the couch could be reckless...

I'm sorry, but it seems like you're on a bike forum, telling people that they shouldn't bike because it's actively putting yourself in a position to get hurt?

I guess I'm just a reckless person then!
 
#54 ·
I'm convinced I'm much safer riding my bike in the desert than I am driving my car in rush hour traffic, going to downtown El Paso at night or even shopping at Wal-mart. In fact just pulling into shopping mall parking lot produces an extreme level of anxiety that can only be cured by turning around driving home and hopping on my bike for a ride in the desert.

Risk is relative
 
#55 ·
I'm sorry. I'll stop posting here.

I guess my only desire was to relate my experiences that I've had over the past couple of years.

I ride XC 3-4 times a week (I would be out more but school puts a cap on a lot of it) and I ride road consistently. I've hit 56 mph on a road bike and 40 mph on a mt bike. I race in enduros and I am currently training for my first 12 hour race this summer and my first 24 hr race next year (would have been sooner...only been riding for 2 years now though). I own a horse and have competed heavily in jumping (up to 3'6 ft). I've played sports my entire life (basketball, flag football, volleyball, softball). I've been injured many times (got hit by a bat and had my wrist broken playing catcher, torn my ligaments in my knee during volleyball, had numerous concussions even with a helmet on after falls from horses, and have gotten serious whiplash on falls from bikes). I've been in two life threatening car accidents. I know about risks...I've taken quite a few in my life.

I also lock my doors at night. I don't walk in parking lots alone past midnight. I use crosswalks, I use seatbelts, I wear helmets, I carry a cellphone everywhere I go, and I wear reflective gear when I'm out riding at dusk. I also don't ride alone.

Sorry for stating an opinion. I just saw this thread and immediately thought of the girl who lived right around my neighborhood, used the SAME trails I used, and got jumped and murdered. It wasn't necessarily just a news story for me and it wasn't an isolated incident.

Make your own decision but please don't attack me for offering up some advice with experiences behind it. Obviously...I don't control anyone. I'm sorry the first post was even written as a "please don't" post. It should have just been "I don't ride alone because...".

But that's it...I'm good. I've said my peace. Just know that I'd never tell anyone not to ride. I ride heavily, hard, and long. It's something I love to do. But I don't do it without caution.
 
#56 ·
I'm sorry. I'll stop posting here.

I guess my only desire was to relate my experiences that I've had over the past couple of years.

I ride XC 3-4 times a week (I would be out more but school puts a cap on a lot of it) and I ride road consistently. I've hit 56 mph on a road bike and 40 mph on a mt bike. I race in enduros and I am currently training for my first 12 hour race this summer and my first 24 hr race next year (would have been sooner...only been riding for 2 years now though). I own a horse and have competed heavily in jumping (up to 3'6 ft). I've played sports my entire life (basketball, flag football, volleyball, softball). I've been injured many times (got hit by a bat and had my wrist broken playing catcher, torn my ligaments in my knee during volleyball, had numerous concussions even with a helmet on after falls from horses, and have gotten serious whiplash on falls from bikes). I've been in two life threatening car accidents. I know about risks...I've taken quite a few in my life.

I also lock my doors at night. I don't walk in parking lots alone past midnight. I use crosswalks, I use seatbelts, I wear helmets, I carry a cellphone everywhere I go, and I wear reflective gear when I'm out riding at dusk. I also don't ride alone.

Sorry for stating an opinion. I just saw this thread and immediately thought of the girl who lived right around my neighborhood, used the SAME trails I used, and got jumped and murdered. It wasn't necessarily just a news story for me and it wasn't an isolated incident.

Make your own decision but please don't attack me for offering up some advice with experiences behind it. Obviously...I don't control anyone. I'm sorry the first post was even written as a "please don't" post. It should have just been "I don't ride alone because...".

But that's it...I'm good. I've said my peace. Just know that I'd never tell anyone not to ride. I ride heavily, hard, and long. It's something I love to do. But I don't do it without caution.
We're all just expressing opinions... Didnt really see any attacks.

It's all about situational awareness and I don't need to post up a resume to validate my opinion.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top