Newspaperguy

With the warmer weather, the group riders seem to be out more often these days, especially on the weekends. Yesterday afternoon, I noticed 15 to 20 Spandex-clad cyclists taking a break at a local coffee shop. This social aspect of cycling is a little foreign to me. Occasionally, I might be out with a friend, but much more often, I prefer to be alone on my bike.

How do you approach cycling? Is it a group activity or a solitary pursuit or a little bit of both?

bragi

I mostly approach cycling as transportation. The majority of the time, I ride alone. I usually meet people at an agreed-upon destination. More often than not, I hang out with people who are driving cars, so there's not much choice in the matter. Sometimes, though, I do ride with others, but, again, it's because we're trying to get somewhere, not for the sake of riding as an end in itself. I have considered rides with the local cycling club, but so far I've simply been too busy.

Roody

I can't see myself riding with a club. I sometimes ride with one or both of my stepsons. I've ridden with somebody I met on LCF. Sometimes I join up with another rider I meet on the road for a while. But I like being alone, and none of my friends are into bikes, unfortunately.

scattered73

I mostly ride on my own mostly, because I work 2nd shift so I am on a different schedule than most. There is a weekly midnight ride I do that meets in the parking lot at my job, and about twice a month I do a ride with a group that does a breakfast/ride these are pretty leisurely rides and I do enjoy the company but I also like the solitude when I ride on my own, it's almost magical when it's just myself and the bike and the road. 20% with others and the rest solo. I do only 2 large organized rides a year Moonlight ramble and the tour de Houston the only rides that the starting points are remotely near me. Well there is the ms150 but 12,000+ riders is just a little past my comfort zone. The only time I wish I had a car is so I could ride out in the country regularly but I just can't bring myself to get a car so I can ride a bike.

cradduck

It is a solitary pursuit for me. It gives me some of the only time I have to be alone and feel free from the daily grind (as cliche' as it sounds). The social aspect of riding is foreign to me as well as there aren't any places where cyclists meet on my route.

The few people I see riding bikes on my route to work are roadies doing training. They mash the heck out of the pedals to get around me and then leave me in the dust once we get to a red light (I stop, they don't)...it's always a nice little ego boost that my old friction shifting road bike can stay on their heels for the most part.

I went up to LA this past weekend and the area where my friend lives there were cafes and coffee shops with tons of old ten speeds and fixed gears all over the place. Made me jealous as there is really no kind of bike culture around here.

wahoonc

A bit of both...I primarily ride by myself, there are clubs around here but they are the go fast and brag about how light/expensive/fast my bicycle is type. I did join them a couple of times for a "social ride" but how you are sociable at 18mph-22mph I have no clue.

I ride to enjoy the outdoors and to get where I am going. I do ride occasionally with a group from halfway across the country. I live in a kind of out of the way area where bicycles are viewed as a toy or DUI vehicle. My wife rides a bit too, so we do an occasional ramble about town on the weekend.

Aaron

TuckertonRR

the vast majority of my rides are alone. I've gone to a few organised rides, which are fun once in a while. I've also had a few rides with some roadie ex-co-workers.

Hobartlemagne 

To me there are two clear purposes of cycling: Transportation and Exercise.
Ill sometimes ride hours at a time in full kit lycra with the club rides, trying to
ride as hard as I can and improve athletically. Other times Ill be in regular
clothes on my fixie, riding alone to the office at about 10mph.

ericy

I used to do the occasional group ride, but my weekends are filled with other activities, and it is hard to get out enough to stay in any kind of decent shape. I would also try solitary rides on weekends, but that used to involve loading the bike into the car and driving, and that got old fast. Where I live now, I can ride from home to the WO&D, and I on some days I commute by bicycle, which is also pretty solitary.

maddyfish

I ride alone most of the time, exception being when I ride withmy kids to school.

I am ineligible for group rides.

Torrilin

I ride both alone and with other people. For 90% of my errands, I'm solo. But if my partner and I are going out to eat, or we're going to the farmer's market with friends or doing various other fun sorts of trips, I'll end up biking with at least one other person. But... most of our friends in Madison bike to get around. And the kinds of places we would go to as a group are ones where the bike is easiest.

Biking to the movies isn't an option, even tho it would be fun. The nearest theatres are all 5-10 miles outside of the city, one way. Bleargh.

thebarerider

:scratchinghead:

I mostly ride alone as well. I commute during the week, with some errands on the weekend, but I also ride alone on leisure rides on the weekend. I don't have any friends that cycle and I don't have that great of a desire to ride with clubs.

dynodonn 

I've been solo bicycling for years, with the exception of family weekend rides, which is nice since I can go as fast or slow, and be able to choose the distance and terrain I want to travel. Club rides have their place for some people, but for me, I feel most club rides are like trying to "keep up with the Jones' ", and my pocket book is much fatter if I stick to riding solo, and I still get far more exercise than the average American does.

Lamplight

I almost always ride alone, although I don't have a problem riding with others, as well. In fact, I rode with my parents Saturday. I definitely don't think I'd enjoy riding with a group of people who are "training" so to speak. If I ride fast for too long, it starts to take the fun out of it for me.

Roody

Doping?

girljen

Another solitary rider here. I work in a dispatch center with two other people, then come home to my entire crazy family. Riding is my alone time!

murphstahoe

I like to ride with others. I don't mind riding alone, but with others is better. When you live in SF, you are almost *never* riding alone - I see 40-50 cyclists on my ride from home to the train each morning (3 miles). The train leaves the station with 20-64 bikes on it, and 15-30 of us get off at Mountain View. 5-10 of those people are riding the same direction from the station as I am, and a few will ride at my pace and we'll form a paceline and draft each other. 4-5 people in lycra, baggy shorts and T-shirt, or dress slacks in a paceline down Evelyn St. Even at 12 MPH you get a lot of rest in a draft.

On the longer drags that attract commuters, Foothill Expressway in Los Altos, Alameda De Las Pulgas, etc.. mini impromptu pacelines develop everyday. Sometimes I ride part of the way home and intentionally time my commute to get a draft from known group rides.

Now, there is also an impromptu race every day. The last road towards the train station is 3 blocks of a straight drag, and between the 2nd/3rd block is a stopsign at a T such that you can pretty much run it with 100% safety. There is only room for a certain number of bikes on a train - if it's full, you wait. For the key rush hour express train, the sprint starts at Division and Townsend. Morality comes into play at 7th/Townsend where there is a stoplight. In this case - it isn't the racers who run the light - it's the slower riders because running that light is the only chance they have to beat the faster cyclists to the train. The next moral dilemma is do you dismount at the curb and walk into the station, or ride up the handicap access and ride to the door - or even into the station (which risks a lecture from a conductor and a seat on the bench waiting for the next train).

peace_piper

Solo. Sometimes I go for a ride with my roomate, but he usually rides only for exercise. The concept of riding 20 minutes to the nearest store for ice cream is beyond him. He'll drive. I ride mainly for exercise and secondly to get places.

If there were a critical mass ride in my zipcode, I'd go to that, but to my knowledge, there hasn't been one.

maddyfish

NO, because I stop at stop lights and stop signs. Now don't get me wrong, I am an outstanding sprinter by all accounts, but I can't keep up with a group riding 18-25 mph when I stop at every stop, and they don't.

Roody

That's pretty funny! Is this a vision of what the world will be like when we reach that carfree Nirvana? Cutthroat competition at traffic signals and a sprint to get a seat on the train? It doesn't sound promising for us fat old utility riders.

gerv 

Usually solo, particularly for transportation. I ride with a friend on Sundays and with my wife on Saturdays, but these are usually just fun rides.

I never ride with a club or large group. I avoid the type of fun ride where you pack the bike in the back of a pickup and head for the nearest trail head. It seems much more fun to ride through the city before you hit a trail... mixed terrain being more interesting. Like maddyfish, I brake for red lights.

Sianelle 

Bicycling is pretty much a solitary joy for me. I'm normally riding to get somewhere or to collect or purchase something around town which doesn't really lend itself to company. While there are a small number of other utility cyclists about town our paths haven't crossed enough yet to build any kind of social bridges.
When it comes to touring type riding I'm not particularly fast and I like to stop to sketch or photograph something that has taken my eye. I'm happy to walk my bike up hills if I need to and generally dally about in a way that would most probably infuriate a cycling companion. It's the peace and quiet of bicycling that I like and living in a rural dairy farming area like I do makes for pleasant landscapes and quiet country roads.

wahoonc

^^^^
That is my method...except for the quiet country roads part...not around my place We have had over 30,000 homes added to our end of the county in the past 7 years...with no road upgrades!

Aaron

Machka 

Are you concerned that you wouldn't get much of a ride in? If so, you could always go past the theatre and then circle back in time for the movie.

Machka 

What about the Fun purpose?