General Cycling Discussion - Are you a lonely cyclist?

I wonder how many of us ride alone while they would not mind sharing more rides with others.

For me personally, this has been a bit of an issue. When I was young I joined a club. Being the awkward ethnic kid with a bike that is "not even a real roadbike" I got bullied quite a bit. That was long ago, but I have been riding alone since then. It is only in the past 2 years that I felt like riding with other people. I am slightly disgusted with myself for still having a little fear of rejection when thinking about joining a club.

Are you a lonely cyclist? And if so, what is your story? Do you know of a good way to meet other cyclists?

I don't know.

I ride alone mostly, I don't really "work" daily so I ride daily when I want and it's convenient for me. I competed at a reasonably high level when I was younger which makes me a bit faster than most typical 'groups'. Yet as I am getting older makes it awkward riding with 'kids'. :)

The thing is though, it doesn't really bother me I guess. I don't really feel 'lonely' and I like that I can go where ever, when ever, how ever. On the other hand I wouldn't mind some company on occasion. The few group rides I do now become more of a social thing which oddly enough, is more like a day off from riding. ;) But if I could find people really close to my level....that might be different.

I suppose I fall somewhere right in between.

I wish my wife would ride with me.

No need to join a club. Many clubs and bike shops host open group rides, no joining or membership required. Check the websites of your local clubs and shops for announcements. Try a few and see which ones fit you the best. Like anything else in life, you'll find people who you mesh with and those with whom you don't. Don't sweat the latter and seek out the former.

I think that until I ride with others, and then I'm thinking "I wish I was alone".

I wish my wife would ride with me.

I wish mine would, too, but she is obese and rides at half my normal speed :( If I could just get her to ride more than once every week to 10 days we could make some progress with that, but that has not happened yet.

I don't mind riding alone. I enjoy listening to tunes while I ride. I do ride with my daughter on the odd occasion (I need to get her riding more, too) and have a friend close by that I like riding with, but, heck, she isn't riding much either! Why don't people ride?! Haha...

I don't feel the need to join the local group mainly because (a) I don't need a bunch of other people to show me how bad of a rider I am, (b) I ride a flat bar bike and wouldn't be part of the main clik (i.e. looked down on), and (c) I'm not much of a social person anyway. Riding alone is a-ok with me.

I prefer to think of myself as a lone wolf, a renegade, a man who stands alone against all the dangers a motorized world can throw at him. Defending stop as yield, red light as stop sign, and take the lane laws. I ride alone because the path I follow few have the fortitude to journey.

I prefer to think of myself as a lone wolf, a renegade, a man who stands alone against all the dangers a motorized world can throw at him. Defending stop as yield, red light as stop sign, and take the lane laws. I ride alone because the path I follow few have the fortitude to journey.

What he said. Actually I prefer to suffer alone. There are a few group rides around, just haven't hooked up with them.

:beer: Here's to the one-man-wolfpack!

I need a mask so I can be the Lone Ridder!

I need a mask so I can be the Lone Ridder!

What do you get rid of?

There's a difference in being alone and in being lonely. Do I sometimes wish for a companion? Of course! But most cyclists are roadies or otherwise interested only in doing Warp Nine while steering course 360. I want to see things, to discover the things I mightn't have seen, or even known about, had I driven to run that errand. So I poke along on my commuter bike with my trunk and my panniers every single ride, because you never know what you'll find and want to bring home. And sometimes even the deliberate errands (like the farmers' market run every couple or so of Sundays) are begun early just to give me that roaming-around time. Slow down. Sit upright. Smell the flowers.

Personify your bike, it will then talk to you. Mine curses at me all the time now. :(

Another lone wolf here. I've thought about joining a group just because I feel safer riding in a group when I'm out in the road. But I'm not all that comfortable in social settings plus I have a hard time shaking certain stereotypes about club riders:

(1)I am not interested at all in racing or any type of competition. Yes, I have a road bike. Sometimes I want to go fast, other times I want to slow down and smell the roses. I don't do "training rides". I ride for fun and exercise, sometimes I even ride centuries, but when it stops being fun and starts being work, I lose interest.

(2) I don't get all caught up in the hyperconsumerism of bike culture. My road bike has sora and tiagra parts. They work fine. I feel no need to upgrade. Plus, commuter bikes, etc. don't seem to have this hierarchy of components which leads me to believe that expensive components are really only for the race crowd to delude themselves into thinking they can go faster "if only I had..." I don't want to get into a discussion about what wheels are crap, this tire is better than that, etc. I just want to ride the dang thing.

(3) I don't wear a team "kit" or any kind of matching uniform. I often do wear bicycle specific clothing, especially on long rides because I find it comfortable and practical. But I know nothing about the sport of bicycle racing so I find I have to worry that I don't inadvertantly wear a color that has some special race meaning (yellow?).

I do enjoy organized rides where I am essentially riding alone, but in a crowd of several hundred other strangers. That seems to be the best of both worlds. But sometimes I think it would be nice to find a low key group just interested in recreational rides without the pretense. There probably are clubs like that but it is hard to find them among the pervasive "roadie culture". Or at least I tell myself that as an excuse for not putting in enough effort to find people who are a good match for me :)

I ride alone 100% of the time, god
im so alone.

/snip/ thinking about joining a club.

You sound like a good candidate for joining a club. Investigate the clubs in your area and ride with a few different ones - all will have their own unique vibe. And keep in mind that you wouldn't be committing yourself to riding with them all the time. A lot of people just show up once or twice per month.


Are you a lonely cyclist? And if so, what is your story? Do you know of a good way to meet other cyclists?

I am not lonely but I often ride by myself out of convenience. However, I joined a group that I like and can always line something up or join one of the rides they are coordinating. Beyond that, you should say hi to folks at stop lights or on the path, etc...I've struck up many good conversations and have made good friends in this manner.

I think that until I ride with others, and then I'm thinking "I wish I was alone".

Exactly!

Where do you live?

If you were in the UK you could join Sky Rides at GoSkyride.com and join their organised weekly rides.

There slogan is "Everyone's Invited" and you register with their website and then jut book on rides.

They are national and in most towns and cities.

Not sure how it works in the States tho.

I'll ride on charity rides a few times a year. I don't really ride with anyone.. in reality I feel more lonely in a group of people I don't know than I do when I'm in the middle of the country by myself.

The few charity rides I do a year make me appreciate the long rides in the country I do the rest of the time. I ride because I can pedal away any concerns and worries.. that doesn't happen in a group for whatever reason.

I wish my wife would ride with me.
This. But mostly, I like to ride alone.

Took a few solo long tours , had to reach out to the locals , seemed to go OK
even though I was a foreigner in a country, with a non English language
on another continent.

Maybe if you were raised in a big family you feel differently..
Only-children seem more self contained .. (for better/worse)

I ride my bicycle home on empty streets, at closing time.. :beer:

This thread is beginning to sound like a country song :P

This thread is beginning to sound like a country song :P

:)

I must echo the sentiments of most of the people above. I wish my wife would ride with me more - she tries, but isn't really that interested. I haven't tried to find a group because there don't seem to be groups for folks with flat bar/hybrid bikes, who are more interested in exploring than racing. I take my bag and camera when I ride - I really wouldn't fit in with any of the regular groups. Don't have the speed, stamina or interest in racing.

Me too, the few people who I've met either outclass me by a mile and I would just slow them down, or are so kooky as to be a real PITA to ride with. One dude thought it was fun to charge across a street on a red light just to see if he could make it, after a few of those I was "too busy" all the time to ride with him and adjusted my routes to avoid him.

I bought a bike carrier for the van and will load my wifes bike on it, she give me an hour's head start and we meet at a MUP around a lake about 15 miles form home. She can only go about 6 miles then complains about wrist pain and fatigue so it doesn't last long.

I think that until I ride with others, and then I'm thinking "I wish I was alone".

^ this

Sometimes the enjoyment of cycling is the tranquility of being self focused.

I bought a bike carrier for the van and will load my wife's bike on it, she give me an hour's head start and we meet at a MUP around a lake about 15 miles from home. She can only go about 6 miles then complains about wrist pain and fatigue so it doesn't last long.

Have you looked into getting a bike fitting for her that could make her wrists feel better. She woud probably be less "fatigued" if her wrists didn't hurt. And maybe she prefers to ride with another person, so having one there would encourage her.

Have you looked into getting a bike fitting for her that could make her wrists feel better. She woud probably be less "fatigued" if her wrists didn't hurt. And maybe she prefers to ride with another person, so having one there would encourage her.
recumbent, trike, or even a tandem might be the ticket. I'm thinking I might really start hinting at getting a tandem/recumbent hybrid one of these days.

I, too, am a lone (but not lonely ;) ) rider. For the same reasons many of you have already mentioned:
-I'm introverted
-Don't care about my "stats". I like to go at my own pace.
-Likely can't keep up with the "serious" riders/don't want to slow them down
-Like to stop and check things out (neat looking bugs, plants, clouds, etc.)
-Don't want to deal with the jerks. My ride isn't expensive or fashionable (barends on risers, Specialized bmx seat on a Trek bike :thumb:)
And so on...

I ride with my dad sometimes though, and earlier this year with my niece when she visited. I'm down for riding partners like that. :)

Well... good to see I'm not alone!

I bike alone most of the time. I'd like to bike with more people who bike like me. Most, if not all, of the clubs I know about are all about their road bikes... riding fast... making sure they balance their carbs to protein to Gu shot. Whatever. I like to look around. I also like to bike longer distances than anyone else I know. So I'm kinda stuck riding alone. But glad to see I'm not alone in that.

Are you a lonely cyclist?

Yes, but by choice.

Yeah, I know that by joining a club I would have others to "push" me beyond my self imposed limits, but I truly prefer to ride alone. Besides, as slow as I ride, I'd hate to hold the other riders back (my avg is less than 11mph). Every once (maybe twice LOL) in a blue moon, my wife will ride with me, but she'll only ride with me for so far and then tell me to "go on," so I do.

Maybe next spring I'll look into joining a local club, but for now, I'll continue to journey alone.

:)

I usually ride alone, there aren't too many cyclists in this area that ride for utility purposes or ride the times that I ride. So I ride alone. I do ride with my wife when on vacation, we plan short hub and spoke tours that fit her abilities.

Aaron :)

frequently ride solo, but don't feel alone.
my partner and i also often ride together - sort of a date.
this past summer was our seventh family bike tour - my partner and at least one son rode with us.
i think lonely is what one can make of a ride.

Another lone rider here who doesn't feel lonely, well not most of the time anyway!

For those that wish their wife could join them, the electric motor assisted bikes have developed over the years & are now something really usable with good ranges & a decent one will have a choice of how much assistance the motor gives you (I can only speak for Europe).
Whenever I see one I think how it'd be great for evening up two riders with greatly different abilities.

Yes, I'm a lonely rider that hopes to someday ride with other people.

Yes, I'm a lonely rider that hopes to someday ride with other people.

LOL!! http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb168/TheCyclist2007/smilies/smiley-laughing010.gif

Solitary, not lonely.

Personify your bike, it will then talk to you. Mine curses at me all the time now. :(
I talk to my bike. If I don't ride for a couple of days I can see it feels left-out. I can tell from the body-language (I suppose for a bike it's called frame-language).

I talk to my bike. If I don't ride for a couple of days I can see it feels left-out. I can tell from the body-language (I suppose for a bike it's called frame-language).

My bikes seem relieved if I don't ride them and ride the other one instead. Like "Thank God I don't have to lug that fat ass around".

I work a 12 hour nightshift 4 days a week. Needless to say my life schedule does not conform to the norm and I find myself riding weird times (10:30 am weekdays) that vary from week to week. I have a hard time making a scheduled group ride unless I get really lucky. I ride alone most days.

I do enjoy company while riding but I also like the personal time I get to just clear my head, no social BS required, and ride.

I guess I would ride more if I had a buddy to help motivate me but such is life, forever alone, atleast while on the bike.

im not a social person but im great at socializing. Makes sense in a weird way. I ride alone, and prefer it. I never know when youre slowing someone else down, or making them work uncomfortably hard.

The only time Id ride with others is purely a fun social event, but that hasnt happened yet because the onpy riding I do is the commute. Sometimes I meet up with others I see regularly and ride along. Other times I just say hi and tell them i wanna ride at my own pace.

Ive been invited a few times to ride off road, but with kids, I have no time. At least for now but soon thatll change and Ill ride with others again.

I wanna go home where I belong
'Cause now I'm just a lonely teenager

When I was sixteen, ran away all alone on a stray
What can I do, what can I say
I'm a lonely teenager

Now I'm seventeen, still alone
Wondering if I should go home
Or maybe stay out of my own
I'm a lonely teenager

I'd love to go back home where I belong
I know I'll be alright
If I just stay out of sight

I wanna go home where I belong
'Cause now I'm just a lonely teenager

I'd love to go back home where I belong
I know I'll be alright
If I stay out of sight

I wanna go home where I belong
'Cause now I'm just a lonely teenager, lonely teenager

More lyrics: http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/d/dion_and_the_belmonts/#share

I have more friends to ride with than time.
I work from home and most of my training is solo. My main source of socializing is my eldest child's taekwondo classes and group rides.
Like many programmers I am in introvert but realize that socializing is a good and for the most part enjoyable. It's not like you talk the entire ride.

I mainly use my bike for transportation/utilitarian purposes, with most cycling groups riding off into BFE territory that has little reasoning to do with what I really ride a bike for. I also like to ride alone so I can set my own pace and route, plus I doubt if there are any local cycling groups in my area that are willing to mix it up with urban motor vehicle traffic.

I wonder how many of us ride alone while they would not mind sharing more rides with others.

Are you a lonely cyclist? And if so, what is your story? Do you know of a good way to meet other cyclists?


I spent quite a bit of my time cycling alone, but I rarely felt lonely. It can be nice to cycle alone.

However, at various points in my life I have had cycling partners.

-- my father rode with me once in a while in my first year of cycling and then again for about 5 years more recently.

-- Rowan, my husband, cycles and so we ride together most of the time, and have done for the past 3 years.

-- I started doing things like the local century where I would have the opportunity to ride with other people and meet other cyclists.

-- I have joined several clubs ... first a racing club, then a Randonneuring club, then a cycletouring club, and more Randonneuring and cycletouring clubs. If you are considering joining a club, I'd recommend a cycletouring club. Their rides are more casual and easy-going than racing clubs.

-- I've also cycled in areas where there were lots of other cyclists and just happened to start riding with some of them. You see each other out there just about every day, eventually you say "hi" and chat about the weather, then maybe it happens that you're going the same direction at the same speed and you ride with each other and exchange a few more comments. And next thing you know you're riding together a couple times a week.

What I like about cycling is the physical effort of pedaling, the feel of the wind, the sense of freedom, and letting my mind wander. I don't need anyone else with me to enjoy any of that.

However, I don't mind riding with others, as long as we're essentially compatible.

What I like about cycling is the physical effort of pedaling, the feel of the wind, the sense of freedom, and letting my mind wander........



I ride my bike for mind stimulation, and I liken my urban cycling commute to something remotely similar to operating a low flying aircraft. The best analogy came from a seasoned pilot reflecting on his early days of flying, he said to the effect..."I wanted to start flying an aircraft so I could relax and unwind my mind from the daily stresses of life, but I quickly discovered that I could do everything but".

I'm a lone cyclist not lonely as has been mentioned here by others. I do on occasion enjoy riding with a friend, but group rides aren't for me.

Another one who bikes alone. My husband hates riding -- won't even buy a bike so I usually go off on my own. Unfortunately, I have very little downtime due to a full time job and kids who are in a lot of activities. I can't make group rides as they don't fit into my schedule and I often can't take 2-3 hours away from obligations. Therefore, whenever I can squeeze a ride in, I do, but I'm resigned to riding alone (which isn't so bad) until my kids get a little older and I actually have the time to ride with others.

Another reason I bike alone is because I am new to cycling and as another poster mentioned, I don't want to slow someone down and I'm really not comfortable talking and riding at the same time which is what I see people doing on the MUP's. I would rather just ride, look around and enjoy the scenery.

Not just in biking! When you're alone there's no politics involved! Plus you want to sit back and enjoy the birch trees
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TXANP4Lx_k

I often bike alone, as in solo or solitary---but I'm not lonely!