gobicycling

There are a lot of club riders, who thoroughly enjoy that activity, on this forum. I know that there are those who enjoy riding more solo, or casual cycling, who don't say much in this forum. How about speaking up and telling us your experiences and what you enjoy and why? I bet at least half of this sub forum meets this definition. Thanks so much.

wolfchild

I prefer riding solo. It allows me to be in charge, it gives me freedom to do what I want. I ride as slow or as fast as I want, I can stop as many times as I want, I can choose whatever route I want. I don't have to worry and stress myself about trying to keep up with anybody. Just not interested in competing against a group or having to follow other peoples standards.

shelbyfv

There are obvious exceptions but it could be that people who don't cycle much may not feel they have much to contribute to a cycling forum.

BTinNYC 

GoB,
I haven't found a group that rides at my mediocre pace. A lot are too slow and others too fast.

The best so far was the C group training rides for the Gran Fondo NY. No fooling around, no long food stops and they had that Goldilocks pace 😉.

Breadfan

I'm 57. I ride solo 90% of the time, the other 10% is with my wife. She doesn't ride as much as me so I go a little slower, which is OK. I ride gravel most of the time and I avoid cars like the plague. I've put in around 1300 miles this year, which is my first serious year ever. I've thought about joining clubs but I've learned I like to be solo.

Iride01 

Most of my rides are solo now. Usually just for 1½ to 2 hours in length. For a time, my older son was riding with me when he moved back to town. And especially after COVID shut everything down we covered some of the most distance I've ever ridden and went on routes in places I'd be loathe to do solo. However now even he is too busy with other things.

But for the organized century rides, which lately I'm only doing a metric century, I always try to find a group to ride with. For one particular ride there is a small group of us that always gets together. For the other few rides, the local bike clubs are always gracious enough to let me and other loner's to join their paceline. Which helps to greatly reduce both time and effort needed for those rides.

Jughed

51 here - solo most of the time. Up until this year, I was solo just about all of the time.

This year I have a few charity ride team members that actually continued to ride with me after the charity ride, and for more than just a month prior. These are easy rides, slow pace...

My son has put in some decent miles with me this year and wants to do more next year. He is 12, not hit his growth spurt, but can hang in my draft most of the time. I figure that I'm in trouble once he hits full size.

I'm not anti social - I just don't want other people around all the time. The bike is my quiet space.

john m flores 

That's funny. I never got the impression that this forum was mostly group riders. In fact, I thought the opposite. Or maybe it's just easier for misanthropes to spot other misanthropes lol.

RB1-luvr

59 and a solo rider most of my life. I've seen the local group rides. They take up the lane, and I mean the whole lane. In blue collar central CT, that is not perceived well, so I'd rather not experience how car drivers react to them.

CAT7RDR

The local group rides for me would be about a 10-12 mile ride to get to the start point. There's a couple hours spent. It is far easier to just ride from home, at my pace, with a great selection of routes.

bruce19

I belong to a local club. For about 15 years actually. But, I ride with the only a couple times a year. I feel safer without the "recreational" riders who came late to the sport and don't know how to ride safely in a group. And, riding solo allows me to ride at my pace. I like it this way.

wolfchild

You mean cyclists who ride in groups ride more than cyclists who ride solo ?

I-Like-To-Bike

Another possibility is that casual riders who are not interested in group rides or setting performance goals (including older riders who DO cycle "much") are made to feel unwelcome by some of the snark and insults directed at them by the performance/fitness/competitive/club oriented posters who dominate much of the discussion on this list.

50PlusCycling

I did lots of group rides when I was younger, these were very competitive, and kept me in shape. But central Tokyo is not the kind of place where you can enjoy fast group rides, and getting out of the city can be troublesome and time consuming. On the other hand, solo rides in the city are interesting, you can ride every day and never see the same thing twice. I much prefer taking long rides from my home to other parts of the Kanto area, where I can enjoy the hot springs, and enjoy a good meal with some sake or wine. Such rides are better with company, but most of the people I know are professionals who are part of the Japanese business culture of long hours and few days off. For myself, I am self employed, and can manage my work so as to give me a few days here and there to travel.

shelbyfv

Nope, sorry for the confusion. I thought that by editing what I quoted from OP it would be apparent I was referring to casual, nothing to do with solo vs group. In fact, the people I know who ride the most do a lot of those miles alone.

nlerner

I'm 63, and do more than half of my riding solo, but I have one or two cycling buddies I ride with regularly at least once per weekend and do two or three tours per year with a group of 6-8 friends. I don't ride with a local club or much at all with the regional randonneuring group though I've done some in the past. Even on those rando rides, I tend to end up riding by myself as I seem to be not as fast as the fast group and a bit faster than the medium group. I like solo touring a lot and hope to do more of that when I retire in a few years.

Clyde1820

99% of my rides are solo. Mostly due to being a morning person, the majority of people I would bike with simply aren't up cycling then. Have always preferred earlier rides, cooler temps, much-reduced traffic flows. These days, I'm also riding at modest speeds, so it's all but guaranteed that others will be out-pacing me on a group ride. For all of those reasons, it's just li'l ol' me.

Would love to have the occasional company, particularly on some routes. But it's rare that it works out that way.

Now and then, I join one of the Bike Day type rides ... you know the sort, on Labor Day and whatnot, where a ~10-20mi route through town gets marked off, and riders come from all over to have a leisurely ride together. Those can be fun, particularly since most don't seem to care what pace they maintain. The last couple, I've had the bike down for maintenance at those times, but perhaps I can catch one or two this coming season.

I-Like-To-Bike

My use of "casual" cycling means riding for the purpose of getting somewhere and return by bike, or riding for fun or relaxation. Casual riding is usually without a compulsion to measure, record and compare performance metrics for such trips, and that such trips are not necessarily intended to serve any sort of "training" purpose. Actual mileage ridden daily or yearly is usually irrelevant to such cyclists. Taking days, weeks, or seasons off for whatever reason does not usually create for the casual cyclist the angst so often expressed on this list by the non casual enthusiasts, i.e. self described "serious" cyclists of 55+.

I have found that suggesting such casual cycling as a possible course of action for older cyclist prompts reactions from some "enthusiastic" posters on this list as an apparent insult to their way of life and could only be the work of a troll who doesn't know what proper cycling is or should be even discussed on this list. Perhaps other casual cyclists who are 55+ may have noticed the bicycling related insularity of the current posters and antipathy towards other bicyclists who aren't members of their electronic "club."

And that is why they don't post on this list.

shelbyfv

Good to know.

big john

I think this is all in your head. If it's not, post examples of this happening on the forum.

skidder

Solo, haven't ridden with anyone else in years. I go out and ride on my own schedule on a 'frankenbike' that I put together by myself, or a single-speed. I'm not concerned with how I look in a t-shirt or how fast I am, just out for a good ride to get a workout on a sunny day.

big john

I haven't seen anyone criticize the way you ride. Nor have I ever seen any of the other negative things you seem to be hung up on. Even if what you say has some truth in it, why do you harp on it every chance you get?

I don't believe anyone on the forum cares what kind of riding you do, I certainly don't. I've been here since 2005 and I feel like there is room to discuss all forms of cycling. I'm sorry you feel persecuted. Maybe next time just address the person directly when they insult you?

MikeWMass

71 years old.

I used to ride solo a lot, occasionally with other people on weekends.
For the last 4 or 5 years the "other people" have coalesced to a group of four. We usually ride at least once on weekends during the favorable seasons, and hike during the cold months.
Next May we are going to Croatia for a bike tour with VBT.

I used to do 2 or 3 organized centuries each year, have not done so for the past 3 years due to my knee (TKR 2022 after failing arthroscopy); hope to get back to that next year.

I find that I don't enjoy solo rides as much as I used to, and they are less frequent.

I have never felt unwelcome on this forum, although my participation is intermittent.

seypat

This, but nobody is made to feel unwelcome. Some riders just don't think it's important to post about their rides or listen to other people's play by play. In all honesty,
Started at 7,
25 riders
did 70 miles,
7000 ft of elevation,
17.2mph average
4:35 moving time
blah, blah, blah
doesn't sound much different than:
1st hole driver,
wedge to 10 ft,
missed the putt
Second hole driver
blah, blah, blah...........
Either way my eyes start glossing over and roll into the back of my head.

ACHiPo 

I ride solo. While I don't have anything against group rides, I enjoy riding on my own on gravel paths, saying hi to dogwalkers, walkers, and other bikers, and clearing my head.