Do you ride with someone?

I once snapped my chain on my mid-drive about 10 miles from home. I purchased a spare chain; but, I haven't prepped it yet and didn't have it in my rack bag. Lucky I was with my wife and rode her Radcity step thru ebike back home, left her ebike at home, put my hitch bike rack on our SUV, and drive back to pick her up as she kept an eye on my ebike. We were at the park for the ABQ Balloon Fiesta early morning accension and that kept her busy with thousands of other folks in/outside the park watching lift off.

I now prepped my spare chain and have it in a Ziploc bag in my rack bag for next time (removed links, add quick links, removed factory grease, wax chain, and have all tools to repair or replace in the field). It would have been a long walk home pushing my 100lbs Himiway Cobra Pro ebike if I was alone and couldn't call my wife.
 
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Almost always ride alone, but really enjoy riding with a local colleague & friend when our schedules permit, known him 15 years, always a great time.

I do, or did, on two or three occasions ride to some pretty remote spots 10-15 miles from my house alone, places where the first three our four miles out would have sucked, in terms of pushing the bike.

The one time I actually had a flat miles from home, I was riding with my buddy. Called my wife, and she had to empty out the back of the Prius V and meet us. My friend hung out with me until she got there, partly for safety but mostly just out of solidarity and to help me load Mercury into the Prius-- could have done it myself,
much easier with two people. Just an all-around great guy, I think he visited me in the ICU at least three times, maybe four. We were gonna ride on Sunday, but got rained out!
 
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Base said:
Die Frau..... Der is male and Die female.

In Dutch we lost these non-, male, female words long ago, in Germany you still need to learn those per word cause the is no real rules/logic behind like in the Latin languages.
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Ooooo… thanks for that. She is a teacher and I could have been in trouble for that one but she is Dutch so likely doesn’t care about it. She just rolls her eyes and tells me to go stand in the corner.
 
I used to ride with my brother until his hip gave out. Since then, I've mostly been riding alone. My brother recently had hip surgery and hopefully, we'll get back to riding together again in the near future.

I've found that, for me anyway, cycling is really a solitary sport since it's often difficult to converse. Riding two abreast is not safe or even possible on the trails I ride. Brother and I used to use walkie talkies which helped somewhat but requires riding one handed and the conversation is simplex. My wife and I have Sena helmets which are great, but she isn't up to riding much anymore. My brother doesn't wear a helmet so we can't use that method. I'm now looking at Sena Bikom devices which can be clipped to a hat. If we ever get back to riding together, that may be a possibility. I see some riders using cell phones with headsets to communicate. I suppose a conference call could be used in a group but this requires a cell signal which isn't present in 75% of the places I ride. Realistically though, it's unlikely everyone in a group will be able to use the same communication method.

Other issues with riding in a group, or with another person, are pace, direction and frequency of stopping. Everyone seems to have their own idea on what these should be. Keeping pace with another e-bike rider can be problematic due to different PAS systems and individual ability. Planning a ride in advance or having a "leader" can help with these issues but not everyone knows their ability. Breakdowns are another factor. How will a single disabled bike affect the group?

Professionally organized tours offer the best approach for group riding, since the pace and itinerary are published in advance. Many have SAG wagons or Trailmasters who follow the group and deal with stragglers.

Having ridden with groups, and other individuals over the course of many years, I now find I prefer to ride mostly alone. For safety, I use a Garmin Inreach satellite communicator, cell phone, Uber, Lyft and AAA for emergencies.

Just my 2 cents though, so YMMV.
 
When I trained for racing, I rode alone most of the time, except for motorpacing. You can't do that alone. A group of five is ideal. Once I retired from racing, I did a lot of organized group rides, from long zone 2 with climbing to coffee rides to Wednesday Night Worlds. A well organized group ride with riders you trust around you is a fantastic way to spend time on a bike. I have opportunities to do that now, but I'll have to start all over again with the trust factor. That is a significant inhibitor for me. We shall see in the spring. Meanwhile, I ride alone, or occasionally, with another rider I come across.
 
I prefer solo for so many reasons most of the time. I don't have to wait for anyone to get ready & they don't have to wait for me. We may not ride at the same pace. I stop & detour all the time, which would probably drive others crazy. Sometimes I don't stop for a few hours, which might also drive others crazy. I don't generally have destinations - just ride aimlessly, which might drive folks crazy. I like to listen to music sometimes. Other times, I enjoy the silence. I do my best thinking on the bike & a tag-along would ruin that. Also, my bikes only seat one :)

I have done my share of group rides and always enjoy them. Always MTB - it's not a bad idea to have at least one more with you in the case that someone gets hurt. I usually like to have someone else with me when getting deep into the woods. I ride in bear, mt lion, moose, and wolf country. Safety in numbers ya know?
 
rob feature said:
I don't generally have destinations - just ride aimlessly, which might drive folks crazy. I like to listen to music sometimes. Other times, I enjoy the silence. I do my best thinking on the bike & a tag-along would ruin that.
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Riding with others has its charms, but these are exactly the reasons I usually prefer to ride alone.

In addition to my best thinking, I also do my best non-thinking on a bike. In the right setting, the saddle's a great place to be here now.
 
Nvreloader said:
How many of you ride with a better half, someone you care about, small G-kids etc.
Have you even thought about what would happen if they or you had a bike malfunction that could not be repaired/fixed on the spot? The bike has mechanical problem, but can be ridden or towed home safely, and you are several miles from home base?

How would you get them home? Do you carry a bike tow line with you?

I made a 15' long by 1 inch soft nylon strap, the strap is tied to the rear of my bike and then is wrapped around the steering stem of the towed bike, IT IS NOT TIED off,
the nylon strap is wrapped from the bottom up the steering stem of the towed bike, over lapping the turns for at least 6-8 turns, then the free end is then grabbed by the rider and held against the handle bar end, by hand pressure only.

If a problem occurs' when being towed, the towed rider just release the free end and the tow line unwraps from the steering stem allowing the towed rider to control the towed bike, as they wish.

I used this with my 7yo G-daughter, was all slightly down hill going, but uphill on the return trip, she got tired and got off and was pushing her bike home, I attached the tow line and showed her how it works, then pulled her several miles to camp, with no problems on a gravel road.
ps,
It didn't take long, before the other 2 also "got tired" and wanted to be towed home by Grand Pa...lol
Glad I had a 750w bike and lots of back up battery power.

You can also buy one here,
I don't like the way they tied off to the towed bike.

There are several options,
Your thoughts or suggestions...
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That’s a smart and practical approach. Wrapping the nylon strap around the steering stem allows safe towing while letting the rider release quickly if needed. It seems especially useful for kids or tired riders, and your experience shows it works well on varied terrain.
 
I have a riding buddy who happens to be single and female. We only do things that are active and in public. She also acts as a legal and technology advisor. She reads a book a week, just like me, and we have overlap in literature and discuss it over coffee at a cafe. We do a ride or two a week and often have lunch. I work on her bike with her. Today we are riding up a verdant mountain to a place where we planted wildflowers in September before the rains. There are epic views of vineyards, San Francisco, the Sonoma coast, and Mayacamas mountains. It is open range land with cows in the road.

1764178147669.jpeg
 
CanNik said:
no
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No what?
Last year I totally fell for someone and was doing stuff like writing corny love songs. That backfired. This year I am making a friend in public, active, and in the sunshine.
 
I was with one person for 31 years. She took me for everything and would still screw my brains out but only in private, in darkness, sneaking around. She would not walk with me publicicaly in the sunshine holding my hand, let alone go to a church or a cafe. I said No to that. Now I have high standards set. Sunshine, public first, maybe, maybe, private second. On Saturday I am advangalizing for the fourth annual Petaluma Lighted Holiday Bike Ride. It will be huge. As I pass out postcards to families awaiting the arrival of Santa by tugboat, I will be dressed up to the nines and with a decorated bike beside me.
sites.google.com

HolidayLightedRide

The 4th Annual Petaluma Holiday Lighted Bike Ride! Date: Friday, December 19th, 2025 Location: McNear Park (11th & F Streets) Time: Arrive by 5:00 PM. Ride starts at 5:30 PM The Holiday Lighted Bike Ride is a fun, festive, family-friendly, FREE community bike ride for people of all ages on all
sites.google.com sites.google.com

1764214240344.jpeg
 
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