Riding Alone - Getting Bored With It
 

I constantly find myself with nobody to ride with. I'm getting tired of it, and I really have a hard time getting motivated to go ride, when there's nobody around. Does anyone else have this issue? What do you do?

I get a good mix of riding with the group and alone, and right now I have been on the opposite end of where you are, just wanting to jump on the machine and go alone. It cycles for me.....

I'm sitting here, wife is at home, kid is taking a nap. I have the time to go ride, and no desire. If I was going with someone, I'd already be in my leathers.

I hear ya... I'm more bored with the area I have to ride...

the riders around me aren't the type of riders I wanna ride with. I wear more protective gear playing basketball than they do riding. seriously

That's true here, for the most part. The few guys I typically ride with are all bikeless right now. The other big group I recently hooked up with has a ride planned for tomorrow, but I'm busy then.

im in the same boat here in NY everyone is a squid, besides 1 family member i havent even talked to another rider up here about riding together. there all about stunting and running from the cops

Ditto...join a local forum, go on group rides, make friends. Then watch them all get married and ditch their bikes and buds in favor of shopping for dog sweaters with the wifey. Then start doing trackdays with forum buds. Then start dating one of the girls that runs the site, get dumped, and have to quit showing your face at certain trackdays.

Uh, not that I would know.

Yup, that sounds sorta right.

I can sympathise with all posters above. Most of the group I started to ride with has long since stopped, married, kids, houses work are all the same excuses. Though one friend just bought a bike in celebration of his new born daughter, except in the 6 months he has had the bike hes ridden it twice.

I signed up on Meetup.com and found a great riding group. There are motorcycle clubs all over that website so there might be one near you.

mmm i love waking up on saturday and sending texts to everyone i know with bikes to get maybe one back and he says hes gotta work, shave the dog, etc. and even if someone does want to ride they only want to go to the city or to the dragstrip. period. you're better off not saying shit and riding by yourself man

I did just that. I rode alone, again!

I hate having to count on others... but it'd be nice to have some like minded people near me that are always down for a ride...

oh well.. only a couple years left here... then hopefully I'll be headed out west where dual sport dreams are made

I'm usually down to ride when I'm free...but that seems to be not much recently.

Our group of riding buddies while is a decent number rarely ever goes out that much.

I could see riding alone being boring if the roads are mostly straight, but not if they are twisty

yeah well that's all I've got down here... and can't see JT having much better... being in Omaha.

Being retired, I mostly ride by myself, but I try to be as smooth as possible. I always seam to mess up something like an upshift or downshift. I also brake in curves and shift in curves, so it's good that nobody sees me do it.

I've caught up to other sport riders at traffic lights and offered to buy them a drink in Golden. Most take up the offer, but it can be weird being that forward. I don't want them to get the wrong idea.

Actually the place I meet most sport riders is at the supermarket. Last week I met a woman who has a 750 Gixxer, and today I met a guy who has a ZX10. But neither one had their bikes with them!

Plus, there's a gas station nearby that sells race gas at $6/gal. Even though I don't use that gas, I always meet all kinds of riders there. And I see all kinds of sport riders on Lookout Mountain, but they are always going in the other direction.

Being by myself is nice, as I can stop anywhere, or if I get behind a line of cars, I can stop without being asked "What's wrong?"

what about Sfarson? isn't he right in your area?

I do a good deal of both. Dont mind either. I go thru phases where I prefer one over the other.

Find your local BMW MOA group.

I'll wait till I get the BMW... and I'll probably just look for ADV members near me...

besides... I already know where the starbucks is...

You nailed it. There isn't much here for twisties. Big sweepers is the best I can get.

Most of them ride more than just BMWs and a lot of groups know some cool shit to ride to and will help you out. Had a guy come over and pretty much teach me the entire 12k service today. Valves/oil/abs/final drive/tranny fluid/belts/throttle bodies/cables/clutch fluid/brake fluid. Pretty good day.

i know man, last couple times i tried you and the other wawa boy were owned by work ;) your schedule over there sucks worse than mine when i was still running ranges at dix

yeah I was just giving ya shit...

I don't really have the money to go out and ride right now... I'm try'n to lay as low as I can right now and save $.

this weekend I emptied my storage and used the Uhaul to buy $300 worth of groceries so I could pack my lunch and save $.

Just because the terrain is flat doesn't mean there aren't any other options. I know a few people who put together a "parking lot practice" where they actually mark a course off and get their knee down. All it takes is a big, smooth lot that doesn't have any security or the owners don't care. As long as you talk to them beforehand to make sure they're cool with it.

If you were a little closer, I'd ride with you.
I wanted to ride today but hubby didn't want to go for whatever reason. :rolleyes:
It is getting colder here and less days to get out. I want to hit 16K before I have to put the bike up. That would only give me like 1k for this season :td:

I have the same problem otherwise - friends don't ride, married, live to far away...

I finally found a group to ride with, all about 40, all with sport bikes, all reasonably fast and safe... although the one with 1098 low slide today...:lol:

It took almost a year to find the right group and I had to look really hard.

I ride every Sunday with the same group. We meet up at the same spot and ride the same road over and over and over again...but it never gets boring. It's like a track day every weekend!

Why would you quit "showing your face" at trackdays over some broad? Fuck her.

And that chick u dated doesn't run socalmoto.org.

See, I ride the same old roads all the time. When I go out with a good group of people, it's great fun. Alone, it's just not the same. The roads are also in the middle of nowhere. So, if I happened to go down all alone, I have no idea how long I would go unseen. That tends to make me hold back some.

Ive been riding alone ever since I got my first bike. A could months ago one of my friends got a bike and we would ride together but then I relocated so now Im back to riding alone. I dont mind it.

We did ride Lookout Mountain and Golden Gate Canyon together, but he lives in the mountains while I live in the city. Plus, he's crazy fast and I'm not.

Just last week, a woman riding in her car went off a mountain road. She survived at a very cold 8,600 feet wearing just a t-shirt and jeans. While injured, she took five days to crawl 450 feet to a gold mine that was giving tours. She had half a golf club to help her crawl and to fend off wild animals. Story: http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_13366356

For me, it's the other way around. I'd rather go solo than with another person. I can go anywhere I want to go, stop any time I want to stop, go as fast or as slow as I want to go.

I think the 2 of you would be real interesting to ride with!

moral: dont swerve for animals

I must be lucky. I moved to Springfield, joined the local forum and started going on a few rides. Now, there are group rides (where everyone is wearing full leathers) at least 3 days a week. Roads are incredible, which probably has a lot to do with it.

I have a good group to ride with, but I would like just for variety sakes to be able to rides with some other groups on occasion.

I don't like the added risk of riding alone.

added risk? for me there's more risk riding in a group.

It is nice to have at least 2 other riders with you in the event that something happens you have a witness to tell your story. One rider can stay on the scene and the other can go get help.

Considering this was a shot I took after an hour of riding...I don't think I'm going to find many people to ride with. I'm usually pulling back in to the garage when most people are waking up.

That's another thing I run into. I'm an early bird. Everyone else wants to get started when I'm finishing up.

I used to have two crews I'd ride with--one usually met up at 8-830 am and another that met up at noon. Sometimes I'd go out with both of them and spend all day in the canyons. Those were the days...

I can understand this. My wife rides so for the past two years I pretty much haven't ridden alone.

My best friend who is usually the third rider in this group had an accident two months ago and totalled his bike and busted his hand up so he hasn't gotten back on the road yet.

My wife was out of town this weekend so I went out alone and on one hand it was nice to not have to worry about other riders...when I wanted to pass I passed etc....but after a while I did get a little bored...just not as fun alone imho. :idk:

i like riding by myself for the most part, i have a couple buddies that are worth riding with but i normally go by myself or with my one good friend. Every once in a while i go on longer trips with a group.

Same here. In a perfect world I would have 3 or so buddies to ride hard with and a bunch of acquaintances to "tour" with. I don't mind a large group as long as it's a moderate pace. I like to go out early to ride hard, 8 or 9 am for a couple hours then go "cruising by the beach or the college in the afternoon.

With the way we do group rides here, it doesn't really matter if there are 5 people or 25 people attending. We all break up into groups depending on skill level and stay in that order. That way there will be a fast group, slow group, and however many groups in between.

werd

Careful there....some of em are young enough to be your daughter

Well, my road is full of cars. lol ...and yes riding alone is boring and I don't ride nearly as fast alone vs. someone pushing me. I think it has to do with lazyness though.

I like riding by myself. Yeah, it's a little scary thinking about goin down and no one is around...but such is the risk I take.

A Colorado motorcyclist was traveling by himself on a highway in Idaho and crashed into a ditch. The newspaper said he was on a Gold Wing. Hunters found his body three weeks later: http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_13393168. The article said he died at the scene, but I wonder if he died right away, or if he could have been saved if someone else was there.

It will be shame if it's due to just not being found in time....

This video is a PRIME example of why I do not ride alone....Great vid...kinda scary
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pF4dBPNCkwg

WTF kind of shitty helmet was this guy wearing anyway?!?! His face is bruised and he's bleeding at the back of his head... That was a good twist with the forgotten wife.

agreed.

Think of it this way, what is the ratio of other riders taking you out whilst riding to alone accidents.

Let's see...I've been taken out thrice by other bikes, twice by cops (true story), 4 times (or so) by cars, 3 times by deer, 3 times by myself- none of which were the fault of gravel, and once by engine failure.

not bad

You must have horrible luck.

Oh no, every time something like this happens I'm always assured that "God is looking out for me" and that I am in fact, "one lucky son of a bitch"...:lol:

I got another scheduled lonely ride for tomorrow coming up!

I could use a change of scenery.

head down my way some weekend.


You on the 10R forums that has the group meeting in Harrison, AR the weekend of Oct. 3? That's just over an hour from my place and incredible roads.

With a family and whatnot I just don't have the time to be roadtripping for a ride. I'd be lucky if I got to do something like that once a year.

Talk about more lives than a cat.

We have a group ride going out tomorrow... just run up here and go with us! Shouldn't take you more than what, 16 hours or so.

Go west, young man.

Shit, I've been shot, stabbed, had a bad jump, several car accidents, fell off a moving APC, hit twice by cars on my bicycle, have had throat cancer twice, and other generally dangerous activities...:lol:

lol....well I shouldn't laugh but you had more than your fair share of shitty things happen.

I hear ya. I should just start looking for a new job.

Do you play the lottery?

I ride by myself most of the time between 4:00-6:00am which is about the only time I have these days. I don't mind it at all. As long as I'm rolling, I'm happy. Here's the proof how much I enjoy riding. She turned 2 yesterday.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2522/...ab688f44_b.jpg

Actually, I don't gamble at all. I've never even placed a quarter in a slot machine or bought a scratch off. I'm weird I guess.:lol:

You outta start, homie.

Went riding by my lonesome this weekend. Yup, it still sucks. I'll be doing a track day this weekend on my own too. Not sure how long I'll keep that routine up.

I've considered it... if I do and win I'll buy you something.

You're too kind.