Bicycle touring solo

It’s safer to tour by bicycle with a partner or group than to head out into the great unknown alone.

So ride with a group if you can. If you’ve got deep pockets, you can join a guided expedition. You also may be able to find a like-minded partner or a group on a touring website, such as this one: https://www.adventurecycling.org/adventure-cyclist/companions-wanted/.

But if those approaches don’t work for you, don’t let the fear of traveling solo derail your touring ambitions, or you may never get out there. 

I did my first multi-day tour in 2011 (of the 335-mile Great Allegheny Passage/C&O Canal trail linkup between Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C.) with a friend, and I had a great time and enjoyed my friend’s company.

Though I was bitten by the touring bug and was eager to do additional tours, I found that I was unable to recruit companions for many of my subsequent efforts, and my fear of soloing discouraged me from touring for the next five years.

In 2016, a three-month window of opportunity opened for me to attempt a coast-to-coast tour. Again, none of my friends or acquaintances had the time or the desire to accompany me. Despite some uneasiness, I headed out on my bicycle alone, and discovered that many of my anxieties about soloing had been unwarranted.

In fact, over time I have found that I prefer some aspects of soloing, especially the flexibility that it offers. While soloing, I have complete authority to make all decisions, including over how fast and far to ride each day, where to stay and when to take a rest day.

When I ride at my own pace, I can ride comfortably all day and I enjoy the touring experience. When I try to keep up with more competitive individuals who may be faster and stronger than I am, I burn out quickly and can lose appetite for the tour. To me, adding competition to the touring mix—riding with individuals focused on proving who is the stronger rider—is a recipe for negativity, exhaustion, injury and other disaster. I’d prefer to be able to stop to smell the roses whenever I want to.

I have also discovered that as long as I stick to established touring routes, I have been able to meet and team up with other like-minded adventurers much of the time. Many of the companions I have met on tour have preferred to ride at their own pace alone during the day but meet at day’s end for dinner in town or at a shared campsite.

If you tour alone, it’s especially important to heed your inner voice.

I have passed on a few of the many free campsites available along touring routes while soloing, if and when it appeared that other campers at the site might be a problem. 

I have never been robbed or physically assaulted on tour. But on the handful of occasions I’ve ignored my inner voice and camped in places that my intuition urged me to avoid, I have sometimes been harassed or otherwise gotten more sleepless adventure than I would prefer.

While soloing, I usually carry some form of pepper spray for security against unleashed dogs, two-legged snakes, and other potential predators.  As of this writing, I have yet to actually deploy the spray but have occasionally pointed the can in a pursuing dog’s direction. Still, it makes me feel better to know I have the spray.

Some touring venues are riskier to solo than others. 

The Adventure Cycling Association, for instance, recommends that the 2,700-mile Great Divide Mountain Bike Route, which travels mostly over remote gravel roads between Canada and Mexico, be ridden in groups with at least three riders.

“If a rider is debilitated in the backcountry, you will want to have at least one person to stay with the injured/sick rider, and another to go for help,” ACA says.

If you nonetheless opt to ride the GDMBR or other remote trails on your own, you should consider carrying a personal locater beacon, such as a SPOT or Garmin inReach.

These devices use satellite technology to track your location and allow you to summon assistance during emergencies. They are not reliant on the availability of cellular phone signals.

If you can’t recruit companions, you don’t have to let your fear of soloing prevent you from touring altogether. But if you go alone, pay attention to your intuition and carry the appropriate technology for your protection.