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Riding Alone?

4K views 30 replies 13 participants last post by  Roostfezza 
#1 ·
Taking the time to actually practice is crucial and nailing down techniques doesn’t work well when on group rides so you really need to do it alone generally. It’s something that’s hard to dedicate time to but pays off immensely. As time goes on and we become “good” riders the things we need to really practice are the more difficult and risky things, high speed whoops, jumps, railing berms and the like. If your going to do that and ride alone especially during times of the year when the forests are not full of people you should carry a spot or some other device in an accessible area preferably on your chest as breaking an arm or shoulder when it’s in a pack or pocket and out of reach does no good when you can’t reach it. Cell signal can be spotty in areas out there.

I know many of us do carry one. Years ago when I used to race a CR480 2 stroke I had a private practice track nearby the house. Big berms, tight corners and one day after a lunch break I went right back out for a rip after lunch feeling refreshed, you know like leaving Wawa on 539 or Luciles.. (for those that ride the pines) Well I was tearing into a berm that was mostly blind until you were into it to find some asshole cut my back gate and dumped a load of roofing right in the apex of the berm. It launched me in the air over the berm about 5 - 7 feet up into the side of a tree. When I landed, my foot was pointed the wrong way, all my knee ligaments were torn out and I laid there for a long long time with the bike on me behind the berm. I was losing hope when finally a young kid walked by. I called out but he was afraid. I finally convinced him I was really hurt and needed help. He climbed up over the berm, got the bike off me and eventually got me up and leaning on the bike. He pushed the bike and I hoped on one leg all the way home leaning on the other side of the bike. There were no cell phones back then really and if that kid hadn’t happened along who knows how long I would have been there.

Question who of us actually makes time to practice, truly does it, and who does it alone in secluded areas? I’m guessing there are a few...

TrailWoman may be one who practices.. but she seems to have a riding buddy generally.
 
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#2 ·
As a rule, if it looks dodgy and I’m alone, I’ll take it as slowly as I’m comfortable with – doesn’t mean I’m not going to crash, just that the chance of serious injury is mitigated. If I was going to never try anything, then half the Island would be off the menu

My “riding buddy” usually makes it over here about once a year, and when we ride we go to the places I would have tried on my own anyway. The Summer, we came across an overgrown jeep trail, unpassed by anything in years. You were either in one rut or the other off to the side, which meant being constantly clawed at by 12 foot Hawthorn bushes and Brambles trying to grab you off the bikes. If you tried to stick to the raised center section, then if you had to put your foot down, the ground was about a foot below

The main issue, was that it was so overgrown you could see none of this, and you might as well have been riding blindfolded. Absolutely no control, even at walking pace. We made it a few hundred yards in before calling it “inadvisable” to continue. Anglesey is sparsely populated at the best of times, and we could clearly see that nobody had used this trail in a long time. All it would take is one broken ankle, and the rescue chopper would be unable to find someone in there unless they had a smoke flare (or two)

Many of the “roads” on the Island are unnamed, unnumbered, some are not even classified as roads. No phone signal half the time, so forget about even calling for help in the first place. This brings us back to the first paragraph in this post, which is largely a matter of risk assessment vs never going out

Given that I choose to ride a motorcycle in the first place, is the first proof of insanity, especially given previous injuries. Doing so at my age, is even more crazy, on a sparsely populated Island, with little or no phone coverage. But to put this into perspective, this is the way I was taught before all these “gizmos” became available. So there’s a degree of “self-reliance” to factor in here, and if I can’t rely on myself to get me out of there, I ‘aint going in – with age comes some wisdom

This is one of the primary reasons I choose to ride a TW, because it’s hard to get hurt on a mule. Fast bikes, been there, done that, got the tee-shirt (and the scars). Time to “sniff the danger”, rather than go hurtling into it at 130mph

The terrain is perhaps quite different over there, where you have to “buddy up”, or if riding alone take along a “Spot” locator. If you take a look at some of Fred’s easy rides, when he’s riding alone he doesn’t take crazy risks, just the one’s he knows how to handle. When riding in a group, he steps that up a notch, which is fair enough. I’ll be the first one to admit our skills sets are significantly different, but we both stick to our individual capabilities, and survive simply because of that. I’ve seen Fred ride first hand, and thought “Crazy”, as doubtless he’s seen me ride and thought “Needs work”. But as long as we both stick to what we know, we’ll both be fine

Yet there are always opportunities to “push the envelope” with regards to the TW, it’s that kind of bike. I have “flown” this bike off ledges and slopes (and climbed back up them) that would have crushed my nuts on anything else, but always at a “relatively” lower speed. It’s perhaps that speed difference and the shit eating grin while doing this stuff that encourages TW riders to try this stuff, and sure, we learn and “hopefully” improve in the process. There’s no way I’d try half of this stuff on a KTM (for example) – they’re too quick and too expensive to dump

So – yeah – I push it, alone (or in company), but always within reason. The moment you try something crazy, your likely to learn a valuable lesson (for better or for worse) …..
 
#18 ·
As a rule, if it looks dodgy and I’m alone, I’ll take it as slowly as I’m comfortable with – doesn’t mean I’m not going to crash, just that the chance of serious injury is mitigated. If I was going to never try anything, then half the Island would be off the menu

My “riding buddy” usually makes it over here about once a year, and when we ride we go to the places I would have tried on my own anyway. The Summer, we came across an overgrown jeep trail, unpassed by anything in years. You were either in one rut or the other off to the side, which meant being constantly clawed at by 12 foot Hawthorn bushes and Brambles trying to grab you off the bikes. If you tried to stick to the raised center section, then if you had to put your foot down, the ground was about a foot below

The main issue, was that it was so overgrown you could see none of this, and you might as well have been riding blindfolded. Absolutely no control, even at walking pace. We made it a few hundred yards in before calling it “inadvisable” to continue. Anglesey is sparsely populated at the best of times, and we could clearly see that nobody had used this trail in a long time. All it would take is one broken ankle, and the rescue chopper would be unable to find someone in there unless they had a smoke flare (or two)

Many of the “roads” on the Island are unnamed, unnumbered, some are not even classified as roads. No phone signal half the time, so forget about even calling for help in the first place. This brings us back to the first paragraph in this post, which is largely a matter of risk assessment vs never going out

Given that I choose to ride a motorcycle in the first place, is the first proof of insanity, especially given previous injuries. Doing so at my age, is even more crazy, on a sparsely populated Island, with little or no phone coverage. But to put this into perspective, this is the way I was taught before all these “gizmos” became available. So there’s a degree of “self-reliance” to factor in here, and if I can’t rely on myself to get me out of there, I ‘aint going in – with age comes some wisdom

This is one of the primary reasons I choose to ride a TW, because it’s hard to get hurt on a mule. Fast bikes, been there, done that, got the tee-shirt (and the scars). Time to “sniff the danger”, rather than go hurtling into it at 130mph

The terrain is perhaps quite different over there, where you have to “buddy up”, or if riding alone take along a “Spot” locator. If you take a look at some of Fred’s easy rides, when he’s riding alone he doesn’t take crazy risks, just the one’s he knows how to handle. When riding in a group, he steps that up a notch, which is fair enough. I’ll be the first one to admit our skills sets are significantly different, but we both stick to our individual capabilities, and survive simply because of that. I’ve seen Fred ride first hand, and thought “Crazy”, as doubtless he’s seen me ride and thought “Needs work”. But as long as we both stick to what we know, we’ll both be fine

Yet there are always opportunities to “push the envelope” with regards to the TW, it’s that kind of bike. I have “flown” this bike off ledges and slopes (and climbed back up them) that would have crushed my nuts on anything else, but always at a “relatively” lower speed. It’s perhaps that speed difference and the shit eating grin while doing this stuff that encourages TW riders to try this stuff, and sure, we learn and “hopefully” improve in the process. There’s no way I’d try half of this stuff on a KTM (for example) – they’re too quick and too expensive to dump

So – yeah – I push it, alone (or in company), but always within reason. The moment you try something crazy, your likely to learn a valuable lesson (for better or for worse) …..
Without a doubt, one of the best lines I've read, on any forum, anywhere, at any time. My mom and dad, a few decades ago, told me I was nuts for wanting to own and ride a motorcycle. Well, it's all a matter of opinion and ones outlook in life. I think I've owned around maybe 30+ motorcycles in my life. As we've all seen in our recent world, one can instantly die at a concert, in school, on the road, in front of your own home, IN your home, anywhere at any time. So, jumping from four wheels to two, and making it 3/4 of the way through life, well, maybe I've just been lucky. I still got a quarter of life left. Might as well have some fun. Again, what a great line, thanks for that one.
Scott
 
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#3 ·
I hear what you're saying. I do most of my riding solo and try to make every moment a learning experience of some sort. However I don't push it that hard, more of a case of trying to make bike closely follow the imaginary line as I build it in my mind's eye. My motto and training goal? Consider everything a single track that needs to be closely followed within an inch or two.
No track, or closed circuits with repetitive laps for me in order to gain proficiency. More like flowing over the landscape thinking "next time here I'll try to do better, go left rather than right around the nasty".
 
#4 ·
Don’t ride above your head about sums it up... but you need to be as close to the edge as possible to ever move that mark. For me riding hard stuff is way easier and safer on my 300i than it is on a TW barring that I can barely touch the ground on the TE. It took two years to get the technique somewhat down to the point where my balance makes up for it to the point that touching the ground is almost optional. But yea, purple is right, know when to back off and or avoid or pay a heavy price. It’s a balancing act though risk vs living life to the fullest.

As far as a KTM or Husqvarna for that matter being to pricey to drop... well you need to get over that quick. It doesn’t matter the cost of the bike, if you need to bail by all means bail! It’s painful to drop your baby but if you ain’t crashing you ain’t riding as many will say (although there is plenty of value to not crashing). You just need to keep the crashes to somewhat safe crashes. Learning how and when to eject is key. I have 20k into the 300 now and I still operate under the premise that my life and limbs are worth far more. I’ll jump off that just as fast as I will off my TW. Watch the pro hard enduro guys, they know how and when to bail. It’s crucial to know when to bail. The TE300i is a full blown top end race bike and to do what I do the investment is either in the bike or in hospital bills. 4K of that 20 is in suspension alone and I honestly need it. It’s not cheap to build suspension for a 270lb guy to race on enduro tracks that are whooped out big time. Anyway I know most everyone here is a way more laid back rider than me and my time will come for that, I’m going to get in what I can before I can’t. I’m only a few months short of 55 and the guys I ride with are the same age or even older (and some way faster in single than me). The funny thing is it’s the young guys we worry about getting hurt. They come out, see old guys and try to keep up or take the lead without the experience needed. It’s lack of experience that causes people to ride over there head and sometimes the only remedy is a trip to the hospital.they key is riding as much as you can, watch other riders close, ride lots and lots of single track to learn to pick lines as fast as humanly possible and practice techniques for common obstacles like jumping downed trees and high speed whoops on loops where you can concentrate on specific skills needed out on the trail.

Last weekend I rode with an x national enduro champion AA winner on a long 100 mile plus ride. I learned more from him in that one ride than riding all summer with my crew. Ride with better riders when ever you can. It’s really an important part of learning. Last week I backed off... I can assure you of that... lol. More on that later.
 
#8 ·
No that’s really a lot of crap. What they say is for racing full out. We generally go 140/50 hours on a piston in 2 strokes without issue, many laid back riders get way way more. Very little maintenance other than oil and lubes.
 
#6 ·
One time, I was riding alone when I came upon a side-trail that I had been wanting to explore for a while. Since I was on my old TW instead the DR650, I decided to have a look.
I followed the trail downhill until it made a sharp righthand switchback through a shallow flowing stream. For some reason, I made a low-speed (my usual speed) roll onto my right side.
There I was...pinned under the TW...inverted and downhill...in water...probably the three worst scenarios possible....and the exhaust was heating my leg! If I had been on the DR, I'd probably still be there. But then again, if I had been riding the DR that day, I wouldn't have gone exploring down that trail.
Luckily, it took no effort to lift the TW off me, but my pride was hurt and now I was soaked and ½ hr from home.
 
#9 ·
Yup, that’s exactly how it happens. Same happed to me before, exact same. I was on the 300 and it’s actually lighter than the TW. I broke a wrist bone trying to top the fall. I was actually crossing a log pile that was sitting next to a 45 degree slope down to a stream. I fucked up, went to slow, didn’t commit got stuck on the log pile and trying to rev off of it blew a rotted log apart and fell down off the pile to the left down the slope and into the stream upside down. My left hand hit first, then me, then my bike on top of me.. all in the middle of no where. Some times it’s lack of commitment to an obstacle that gets you, ie,. going too slow! I was afraid to go to fast because the logs were wet and snotty, end of day inertia would have brought me through, but I had none.. Totally my fault. I did not have my sat com that day and it was that day when I decided I have to have it every day. I’ve followed that rule to this day.
 
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#7 ·
I don't have good riding skills, not like you fellows describe. but I would tag on the personal locater.... here in Yukon most days you are alone. often in what would be considered remote locations. no cell and few passers by if any. I carry a spot whether I am on the bike, in my boat or kayak or off the path on foot. partner took my spot on a fly in - 7 day hike out wilderness trek... second day one of the group blew their knee during a water crossing. short story, I was able to get a helicopter to their location with in hours of the injury. I guess we just took a lot of risk in the days before cell and satellite communicators. satellite comms and the associated service are cheap compared to some of our bike upgrades. they are a very valuable tool to have in your kit.
 
#10 ·
When I ride alone, I take my time and try to work on my balance. My goal is to clear a trail like riding a trials event - no feet down.
 
#11 ·
I make efforts to hone my skills but yeah...I dial it back more and more the further I am from help. Always tell someone where you're going. Even with other riders, when you're deep in the woods mistakes take more of toll.

I'm out of a riding partner for a bit due to a severed tendon on her finger so I'll be dialing it back even more so this winter. Riding alone in the snow will be close to home with little to no risk taking.
 
#12 · (Edited)
I ride alone most of the time and nearly always on easy single tracks or double track forest roads that I am familiar with and I always have my backpack that includes a SPOT and a cell phone and a 44 revolver and all the 10 items recommended for hiking including a whistle .....

I never ever take a chance as I am not out there to practice or to learn but to simply enjoy the day and get home safely... get there itis is what kills people...... my days of come hell or high water are long past...

I intend to die peacefully in my sleep like my grandfather......not screaming in terror like his passengers.....
 
#14 ·
I intend to die peacefully in my sleep like my grandfather......not screaming in terror like his passengers.....

We may be related...! LOL
 
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#15 ·
I don't like to ride with anyone but myself. Riding with friends tends to always become some sort of race and all my race is long out of me. When I ride alone I am always going slow and easy just so I can go and enjoy being out exploring various trails. I don't look for the toughest places and actually avoid places I know can be troublesome. At close to 68 years old I don't heal like I used to and all the rubber I was once made of has gotten pretty brittle so I just take it easy only get froggy in places I know I can play a little without getting hurt. When I do ride in a group I would be bringing up the rear and telling my buddies I will meet you when you get there. In my youth I was always the one who wanted to get there first and now I am perfectly happy to just get there.

GaryL
 
#16 ·
There’s nothing wrong with that Gary, in fact that will be today’s ride. I’m going out to look for a place to stealth camp... slow and easy. It’s 27 now so it is chilly!
 
#17 ·
We had a great Stealth camping spot on our hunting property and I loved going in the winter with 2 buddies. 3300 acres with nice ATV trails and we were allowed to ride and camp after the hunting season was over. Nice spot on the side of a cliff with a stream in front and a big overhanging rock ledge above. Almost a cave of sorts but kept the ground dry as long as the weather was not out of the east which it rarely is here. We are positive either trappers or Indians used this spot for centuries as there are lots of old signs showing where they cut trees with simple tools and built a wall to keep the fire heat in. Nice brook trout in the stream and plenty of room for 3 sleeping bags under the ledge and on dry ground. We parked the ATVs in front so we could tie up a blue tarp from them and with rope up above the ledge. One year we planned ahead and piled lots of dry wood and kept bring in supplies each time and then spent 3 nights in January and had a blast. The property got sold in 2005 to a religious group and we can't go there any more.

GaryL
 
#28 ·
I would say riding with one other companion, maybe someone else who is also learning, is a good idea? That way you have at least one person, but it's someone you trust/know, and can work with to get better out in the wild. Also, someone to help you get unstuck if you get stuck, and avoids potentially having to uses emergency services/etc. with something like a Spot?

... With that said, I have often just gone on my own. I haven't gone on my own very far from town/civilization though, so I have always had cell service/gps availability still.
 
#29 ·
Well Gang,
I don't have (at least that I know of) many or, ANY riding partners for T-dubbin' it around our little town of Lake Havasu down here in the SW portion of AZ so, ALL of my riding is ALONE. But, for the most part, it's a lot of washes and some hills of various grades and conditions. Within the boundaries of our town, is a vast desert and without a doubt, a few zillion miles of trails. The terrain varies from hard washes to soft sandy types with various rocky portions strewn about. I'm surely not in any form of a hurry when scouting the outback.

Now, when we were camping near Bayfield CO, (about 16 miles east of Durango), I found a TON of forest service roads and trail stems that were nothing but pure fun. My kinda riding. I also found quite a few in or around Williams AZ where, some of you saw my "Ooops" that I did with the back of my leg. Long story short, climbing a 30 degree angle hill that was loaded with rocks about the size of softballs and, while doing my impression of a trials rider, I fell over. I was basically standing almost straight up while the bike was laying on its right side. No damage to the bike whatsoever. But, in the fall, the engine exhaust header pinned my left leg against a large boulder and basically cooked the backside of my left calf. NOT GOOD!

So, I poured some cool, clean water on it, and road back to camp, about 10 miles away. Needless to say, I put myself in a predicament that was pure STUPID! Lesson learned. But, when there's no one to ride with, and it's fun, well, ya gotta do what ya gotta do. Just use some common sense.
Scott
 
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#30 ·
I like to solo ride where the bike and I are made to feel welcome.
Tree Soil Grass Plant

This singletrack "dead ends" several wonderfully scenic and challenging miles ahead where it joins the Pacific Crest Trail and thus end of motorized traffic. No Jeeps, ATVs or people that day...just a squirrel and pair of ravens.
 
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