Do you ride with someone?

[harryS]

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?

My grandkid was tired on her regular bike, so I towed her with a nylon strap. When I stopped and she didn't., she crashed. She'll never take a tow again, but I cut down an ebike to fit her.

Now if a flat tire happened, our standard procedure (when not carrying a flat kit) is for me to ride the good bike and go get the car, If's it walkable, I walk the bike. If it's a motor/battery problem, our ebikes were bikes before I added the motor. They can be pedalled homw without power, by me at least.

Riding alone is OK when riding in places with other people. I would not ride where I might not see anyone, in case I fell and couldn;t get up.

 

[mrgold35]

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.

 

[fritz katzenjammer]

When Der Frau and I go for groceries I take the e-cargo thing and she takes her e-bike, otherwise it’s time for the tandem.

 

[Base]

Der Frau

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.

 

[Catalyzt]

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!

 

[fritz katzenjammer]

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.

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.

 

[6zfshdb]

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.

 

[stompandgo]

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.