Scribbler's Circle entry #1

Solo rides - roll out with your buddies or destroy those miles alone....

[Big Al, aka Fatlad, has collected a scruffy group of cyclist/bloggers that will post something about a topic he alone dreamed up for that week. The following is my poo flung onto blogspot.com's wall.]

As a commuter, I typically ride alone unless I'm lucky enough to find someone going the same direction or I may ride home with a co-worker, but generally solo rides during the day. I'll head out the Mrs. for errands or a ride after work, but the majority of time on my bike is spent alone. I'm not really keen on riding alone and I don't look to ride that way on purpose, but that is usually how it goes.

Riding alone does have its benefits: time to uncompress or wake up or contemplate or empty your mind and just be. On my rides to work, I just want to slap the fuzzies out of my head and have some blood moving by the time I really need my brain. From work, I just need to digest the day or not think about it or get away. Times when conversation, listening or talking, is too taxing and uncomfortable. Time inside your own head is time well spent and those that are unable to be there comfortably don't make for very good bikers.

Riding with someone else makes the miles pass much more pleasantly. You can push and be pushed, if that's the sort of group you're with. You can lazily spin and chat or just enjoy the company and enjoy shared moments and views. Me Darlin' Mrs and I rode a long trip last year and that was exactly how we spent it. Touring by bike is one of the finest pleasures I've known and I like to have someone there to share the scenery, a laugh, a beer or the sheer joy of quiet interrupted only by the whir of the chain and your tires on the road.

Fat Lad perhaps posed this as an OR type of question, but I like to think of it as more of an AND. Biking is best done alone AND with others.

Biking is best done.