Going it alone

This may seem a strange article from a person involved in Group Rider Training for ten years. But this piece is all about those times when you are riding alone, and maybe more specifically; a longer ride, taking place during one day, or a trip, my definition for at least one overnight stay.

We all ride alone out of necessity or convenience: a commute to work, to visit a relative, shopping, to just – use the bike after staying idle for a bit or maybe because of good weather, or to get to an event or meet-up. There may be many other reasons for riding solo. Generally, these are rides often following a well-known, fast or convenient route to just get somewhere. Occasionally we may divert or deviate off the known route, “for a change” or to look for an alternative way of getting somewhere.

I’m sure most of us enjoy riding with another rider or group of riders, especially when you know them. The thing about riding with LAMkins, after they’ve completed, at least, a certain amount of their Advanced Training, is that we ride to a system and you generally know what to expect in that ride from the other riders in the group; a safe, controlled, systematic, progressive ride which reduces the ever-present risk when motorcycling. In a group ride, the ride leader generally takes the responsibility for choosing the route, when to stop, refuel and initially organising the ride meeting point and aims of the ride. This removes many of the individual’s need to make choices. As soon as you ride solo, ALL those decisions are made by oneself. When riding in a group, apart from the obvious camaraderie, fun and friendship within the group, you also benefit from group knowledge and help when things go wrong like a breakdown, an accident (whether yourself, another group member or someone else) or any of the myriads issues that we may face day to day as motorcyclists.

This article is to look at the differences and choices when you make the decision, “to go it alone”.

Whenever riding solo, the most obvious difference is regarding timings; you choose start times, dates and expected end time and date. The next obvious choice is where are you going to, generally followed by the route you will take. Let’s now look at three types of solo rides I’ve considered.

The first could well be a commute or a regular ride. Should be easy this one: You do it often, you know what to expect, other than the IAM mantra, “expect the unexpected”. You know what to take, paperwork, kit, how long, fuel and route. But do you “switch off” and think of other “stuff” when doing this kind of ride? I sometimes make a pact with myself, to engage in the ride and maybe have a target for the ride. For examples; see and know every road sign, hit every speed limit, not literally; or anticipate as far ahead as possible, if you’re sometimes surprised by overtaking vehicles – improve mirror or shoulder checks or imagine this is your test ride and ride to test standard. I’d consider riding distances here to be between 20 and 80 miles but could be much further if it’s a known regular destination. I had a regular commute round trip of 140 miles before retirement and still make a regular 80-mile round trip to visit family.

The second type of solo ride is a ride to somewhere you don’t normally visit. It may be just to check out a town or village, a place of interest, a view, café, beach, ride a road or look for a new group ride destination. On this kind of ride, more unknowns start to creep in and a greater level of independence is needed. Dependent upon distance, and here I’d be thinking of between 50 to 200 miles, certainly the route will be thought about, the opportunity for riding new roads or stops will arise. This may well necessitate a meal or food stop. If going to a place where food and drink is available, fine, but maybe that can’t be relied on so do you take your own refreshment, either bought or prepared beforehand, or just keep an eye open for a burger van, garden centre or cafe? When you reach your destination; do you need different clothes or kit? For me, this may be for swimming or a walk.

The third type of solo ride is one where you stay away overnight. I call any overnight ride, a Trip. This is where one’s character might affect what kind of trip you make: Where you will stay being a major factor. When staying away, ride distances are likely to be much longer. And here, distances when riding alone can be significantly longer than riding in a group. You will start at a time that suits you, refuel when YOUR bike needs a filling up (not when the smallest range bike in the group needs fuel). You’ll stop for a snack, coffee, photo opportunity or toilet breaks to suit yourself and it may be quite sudden when a suitable place is spotted. In a group this doesn’t work.

Whenever I go on a solo trip I always camp, but you could B&B. So, my bike is then fully loaded. I take a lot more “stuff” so that I don’t need to depend on anyone else and can be largely self-sufficient. One trip I made, before phones were used for everything, was based around a very vague plan. My sole target was to go to Scotland. I had no campsites booked. I left late afternoon and reaching the Spalding area, I couldn’t find a campsite. It was starting to get dark and I was thinking on the possibility of wild camping, just find a place to put up my tent, away from the road and hidden from view when I spotted a lot of caravans and thought I’d lucked out. Asking a man mowing his lawn next door, I asked about camping there. He said there were none nearby, but I could camp in his garden – sorted. He refused to take any money but I stuffed £15 through his letterbox, when I left early next morning. Another time in Lincolnshire, I asked at a pub and they said I could camp in the pub garden as long as I had a meal in the pub, an offer I couldn’t refuse.

In all instances when riding alone; you chose when and where to stop, the route, riding speed, timings and if you want to extend, divert off or curtail the ride. You will have to do some planning before leaving, maybe necessitating “looking at a map”. On one trip, I covered over 1600 miles over four days, riding and stopping and camping when I felt like it. There are now camping Apps that will give you the location of the nearest campsite or in some places, Wild Camping is still allowed. As the ride distance is extended your level of self-determination and independence and planning must also increase but the rewards can be lifelong, life affirming and improve mental health, self-awareness, confidence, resilience and give your riding a new focus. You never know; riding solo could lead to an adventure or an expedition – see August’s Progress.

Eddie Wright