When it comes to riding solo, I’d really rather not. I don’t mind being alone with myself, listening to my thoughts, hearing nothing but the gears and maybe a bird or two. That’s fine. It’s the possibility of getting hurt and not being able to get help, mostly.
I don’t like big group rides either though. With big groups, you’re always on the group’s time. Someone’s always holding up the group or pushing the pace too hard, we’re all at different skill levels and endurance.
Give me a group of 4 and I’m good. There are enough people to take care of each other in case things go awry. With four, the group moves faster and cohesively. If you want to change up the plan, it’s easier to have to ask three others.
Having Zwift makes not having riding partners a lot easier. I prefer to ride by myself on Zwift for workouts. If I’m trying to work on pacing, I can easily jump into a group ride with targeted watts per kilogram. But I don’t chat with people on Zwift.
But I don’t always have someone to ride with and that actually happened twice in the last week. It’d been a hot minute before I took the road solo before that. Riding by myself both times had me thinking about why I don’t do it more often.
The perks of riding solo
There are plenty of perks to riding solo, namely being able to ride at your own pace, working on skills that interest you, and how time feels like it slows down.
I can ride at my own pace
When I’m riding in a group, we’re going at the group’s pace. This can be faster or slower than what I want. If my legs are feeling jazzed, I want to go faster. Vice versa if my legs are feeling heavy.
Being in a group forces me to go at a pace that I might not necessarily want to go. And you don’t always know the pace until you’re in the thick of the group ride. There have been several rides where we biked both over and under the pace I expected.
Riding at my own pace means riding slow when my legs feel like shit and sprinting up hills when they’re feeling good. I’m not getting dropped nor am I dropping anyone. I can shoot off onto a different path if the mood suits me and I can call it a day and go home whenever I want.
I can work on weaknesses riding solo
Another perk of riding solo is that I can practice shit I normally couldn’t if I’m with a group. Unless the group wants to session a part of the trail together, I’m usually just trying my damndest to keep up with them. Luckily, the guys I roll with are always happy to coach me through a tricky spot.
Riding by yourself means taking your time over something you struggle with. When I was at Hildebrand Ranch Park earlier this week, I slowed down to practice positioning over the bike on turns. If I had a group behind me, I wouldn’t have the guts to do it. I wouldn’t want to hold up the riders.
Time goes by slower riding by yourself
Which can be good depending on the day. When I rode the Highline Canal on my gravel bike, the time went by slowly. I’d look down at my Garmin to see if I’d ridden one hour and I’d see, forty minutes, fifty minutes… and I was as far as I wanted to go. Luckily, it was a beautiful night and I was enjoying my music, so it didn’t matter the time was dragging.
While I don’t mind riding solo, I don’t prefer it. I do appreciate that I can go at my own pace as opposed to the group’s. If I want to change the route last minute I can. And if I’m not feeling it, I don’t have to ruin a group ride or make things weird.
The cons of riding solo
Surprisingly, I have equal cons as pros to riding solo. The bummers of riding solo is that time goes by slower and if I’m in a shitty mood then I’m stuck with my shitty self. Also, if I get hurt, I’m screwed. I have to hope someone finds me if I’m knocked unconscious. And talking to myself gets old after a while.
I can only rely on myself riding alone
The other day, at Hildebrand, I saw the rattle of a rattlesnake slither into the grass as I was approaching. I pedal my ass away from that area as fast as I could. If I had someone riding ahead of me, they could have scared off the rattlesnake. They could have taken one for the team.
If someone was behind me and the rattlesnake attacked, they could have, like, sucked out the poison. I’m not totally sure what you need to do if you get bit by a rattlesnake. (Just looked it up: get to a hospital ASAP. You don’t need to suck out the venom. If you can ride back to your car, then do it. If you can’t, you can wrap it or shunt it, and hopefully, a riding partner can help you out.)
The same goes for endo’ing. If I fall off my bike and really hurt myself, like knock myself out or snap my neck, I may be screwed. If I have my phone nearby (and it didn’t fling out of my pocket) and I have service, then I can call for help.
Most of the time I don’t have service. Damn T-Mobile. At that point, I have to hope someone will come along and help. This is why I stick to trails that are popular and I usually have cell phone service (like Hildebrand, Green Mountain, Bear Creek, etc..)
I only have myself to talk to
Don’t get me wrong: I love talking to myself. I talk to myself all day long while working from home. I don’t have a problem with that. What I do struggle with is that my anxiety and depression can get to me if I don’t have it on lock. If I’m in a pretty good headspace, then talking to myself is fine.
If I’m battling some shit, then riding by myself or being alone can exacerbate it. Luckily, mountain biking requires so much concentration, that I can switch off the feelings and focus on not breaking my neck or making a tight switchback.
It’s not just doom and gloom. A lot of times I just have random (and incessant) thoughts. After I saw the snake, all I could think was, “How do snakes poop?” I assumed it was from a hole near their rattle. And that’s right. I found a video of a snake owner filming their snake pooping.
I wish I could shut off my mind more often. It’d be nice for the thoughts to quiet. They’ll silence when I’m hyper-focused on something technical, but otherwise, they’re spinning through my brain as fast as I’m pedaling.
Time goes by slower biking alone
Which can be bad depending on the day. If I’m not motivated to ride, biking by myself makes time feel like it’s dragging. It’s a lot less common on the mountain bike, but I feel it HARD when I’m Zwifting. I mean, it makes sense. Sitting on a stationary bike watching some avatar move in a fake world gets old fast.
At least if time is moving slow AF on the road, gravel, or mountain bike, I’m outside.
Those are my pros and cons of riding solo and honestly, it depends on the day and why I’m riding alone. If it’s because I can’t find anyone to ride with, it’s usually more of a bummer to ride solo. Alternatively, if it’s because I want to do my own thing, then I’ll look forward to riding by myself.
Want some tips on riding solo? Check out my blog, “How to: Solo bike adventure“
What are your pros and cons to riding alone? Share in the comments below.
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