Longest solo rides

[Keith A]

Almost all of my rides these days are with a group, and I don't spend much time riding solo. This weekend I traveled to visit with my mom, and there is a great Rails-To-Trails nearby called the Palatka to Lake Butler Trail (https://www.floridastateparks.org/parks-and-trails/palatka-lake-butler-state-trail). I started from my mom's and rode to the opposite end, and then rode to the other end to meet my daughter. We did an out and back together for 20 miles, so this wasn't completely solo, but I did all the pulling :) I then rode back to my mom's and she drove there in her car. I ended up with 72 miles total. I realize this isn't some huge number, but it was the longest ride I have done essentially alone is a while. It was a great day, all except the last 5 miles into a stiff headwind and no fluids left.

I think I need to do this more often, and skip the group rides sometimes.

[Joxster]

My longest was a bonk training exercise, I made it too 487.63Km before I blew my tits. We had to ride at hr 165Bpm until you blew

[skiezo]

I love my solo rides. It gives me some much needed time to mentally regroup.
I only really ride with 2 or 3 others anymore.
Last year I did a few 70ish mile solo rides and really enjoyed them.

[spiderman]

And very steep and slow at the start of the season...
I was passed by a guy as I was preparing to merge
Onto the highway and the 10 % grade who shouted out
“Cmon man — you can ride faster than that!”
42 miles as I cut off the last section and lost
My strava connection

[sipmeister]

Most of my road rides are solo. I head out when I want to and go at whatever speed I want to. I like it that way.

[Clean39T]

Vast majority of my rides are solo too. I do sometimes enjoy group rides, but more likely if I'm going to be out with others, I prefer it to be just one or two folks who are out for the same experience. 70-mi group rides that take 8-hrs because of stops and all that can get to be a bit much.

It's also a better workout to ride solo. Just you and the wind.

[asindc]

Rode the last 50 miles of a metric with 6K of climbing by myself.

[owly]

270km recently, dawn til dusk. Just exploring around on the gravel bike.

Need to keep things interesting in the last 100km or so, or I find myself getting bored a bit.

[Bradford]

I've always liked the solitude of riding by myself, and I've always liked long rides, so I guess this has always been part of my life.

The longest I've done is 500 miles from Jackson to Steamboat after my companion for the first 500 miles hoped on a plane to get back to the real world. Living in a tent and riding alone for 6 days is a wild experience, especially in Wyoming where you don't see a lot of cars or people. You get lots of time to think. I also rode about 225 miles from Rhode Island to Maine once to go to a wedding. Did 105 the first day, about 75 the second, and coasted into the wedding around noon on the third day.

In one day, I've been doing 75 mile loops on mixed surfaces for a while, long before I heard the term gravel grinder. Riding alone is nice, riding along over a dirt mountain pass in the woods is even nicer.

My problem these days is finding that many hours in a row where I can be away from the family, but the riding alone is easy and my preferred way to roll.

[Keith A]

My longest was a bonk training exercise, I made it too 487.63Km before I blew my tits. We had to ride at hr 165Bpm until you blewThat's nuts...and impressive.

[m_sasso]

Longest one day solo ride 183 miles, longest consecutive days solo ride 2300miles+ dune while touring.

[joosttx]

I did a solo 200K rando and ended up doing an extra 25 miles because of a wrong turn. I think it was called "the Gippity Gap Rando". There was one other person on the ride but he went ahead of me and I never saw him again. He ended up blowing up. The ride consisted of riding up and down 6 gaps in Virginia or West Virginia. I was like 95F and cloudy and super humid. It sucked.

https://live.staticflickr.com/7812/32660351827_8a7d62c1d4_b.jpg

[Matthew]

Last summer I did the Ride Around Torch Lake here in Michigan. 102 miles, virtually every mile solo. 5200 feet of climbing. Very warm and humid. Forgot how hilly northern Michigan is!

[flydhest]

I am in the opposite situation. All of my miles recently have been solo because of work/family demands. A few hours alone isn’t awful, I mostly like myself, but I yearn for the time when I had a whole passel of riding partners and group rides to choose from.

[Keith A]

I am in the opposite situation. All of my miles recently have been solo because of work/family demands. A few hours alone isn’t awful, I mostly like myself, but I yearn for the time when I had a whole passel of riding partners and group rides to choose from.I hear you. I do enjoy my group rides and it certainly helps me get up early before work in the dark knowing that I have someone there to ride with.

BTW, you guys have some impressive solo rides :eek:

[onekgguy]

I typically ride solo although I'm not opposed to riding with others. My longest single-day solo ride was 266 miles (https://onekgguy.blogspot.com/2004/07/my-bicycle-ride-to-babbitt.html) (428 km). My best day ever on my bike.

My 2nd longest solo ride was last year, a 214 mile ride (https://www.strava.com/activities/1768465808) to the Iowa border and back.

Kevin g

[PaMtbRider]

My longest solo day was 201 miles. I enjoy riding by myself and with small groups. When the number swells much above 8-10 riders I lose interest quickly. I enjoy the occasional D2R2 type ride where you see other riders but are not necessarily riding in a group.

[oliver1850]

I did a solo century on an 80 degree day in March of 2012. Far cry from this year as I only managed two short rides in March. I think the longest ride I've ever done was around 115 miles.

[Drmojo]

Tours:

400 miles around southern Madagascar on a 40lb Chinese bike
300 miles of dirt in Yemen

one day:

100 miles of mixed surface all above 10k feet on Karakoram highway from Sust to Chinese border

Saul for now

[mt2u77]

I did a solo 118 mile gravel loop last year. I was hating my own company by the end of it. I way underestimated how slow the soft conditions would be and how rattled to the bone I would feel. That type of misery is best shared with another.


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[CSKeller]

My most recent longest solo (un-supported) ride was last year from Colorado Springs to Conifer, CO. 80 miles and 8,000 ft of climbing. Tough but very rewarding for me.

There are a lot of amazing and impressive rides listed here!!! Quite inspirational!!

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[fellowsun]

Longest solo was 365km around Whidbey Island in the PNW.

Would love to go farther this year.

[spiderman]

The first year the to hell and back ride
Across South Dakota was held, I rode about 450 miles
From Minnesota to Wyoming on hiway 212 and stopped
When I was supposed to turn around and head back!
(The 30 mile muddy, gravel nightmare detour made me
Turn off the engine instead of going on)

[bicycletricycle]

I don’t like group rides, I try to do 2-3 100 mile rides per month when the weather is nice. I like the time alone.

[R3awak3n]

I pretty much just ride a lone, 50 - 70 millers regularly, sometimes I will do a bit more.

I do like to ride with people, would not say a group but with another person or 2 but I really love ridding alone. I got at my pace (I do like to ride with someone faster because pushes me a bit which is good sometimes), I stop when I want, get home when I want, ect..

[merckx]

My longest was a bonk training exercise, I made it too 487.63Km before I blew my tits. We had to ride at hr 165Bpm until you blew

I've reread this a dozen times or so because it is the best thing I've read in awhile.

[Keith A]

My longest was a bonk training exercise, I made it too 487.63Km before I blew my tits. We had to ride at hr 165Bpm until you blew
I've reread this a dozen times or so because it is the best thing I've read in awhile.
That's 302 miles :eek: :eek: :eek:

[efixler]

Nothing much to add here, but I <3 this thread.

[Mzilliox]

I only ride solo. People in theory want to ride the roads i ride until they ride them. Full Roadies dont seem to like the lack of traction. So im solo.
106 miles is my longest solo mission.

[benb]

I ride solo 99% of the time.

Longest solo ride last year was 111 miles, about 8000 feet of climbing.

I've done at least one ride > 100 miles solo each of the last 3 years.

My longest ever solo ride was about 130 miles a long time ago.

The great thing about a big solo ride is you don't have to do it when an organizer wants you to do it, you can choose the day to do it based on weather. You can have your rest stops wherever you want. You don't have to pay to go on the ride. Another rider is less likely to take you out. Lots of things really.

Worst thing for me is a big ride I pay to go on that has the following characteristics:
- Rest stops are in poorly planned locations
- The rest stops are poorly stocked
- The route is built so that it never goes through any villages, etc.. where you can get food & fluids on your own to compensate for the poor stocking of the official rest stops
- Costs money
- Route is very confusing (less of a factor with GPSes these days)

No solo ride I've ever planned myself has had that combination of factors together.

Certainly I've done some rides the last few years that were incredibly well planned and organized like B2VT, but that ride costs an absolute fortune too. I feel like 20 years ago an organized ride that cost > $50 would have seemed outrageous, now we routinely pay $200-300 for some big organized rides.

[cgolvin]

I quite enjoy riding solo, and up until a few years ago that was my default. Then I had an incidente that resulted in me being a John Doe in the ICU for several hours before some sleuthing by the medical staff resolved my identity. As a result I rarely ride alone now out of consideration for my family (I also wear a RoadID). Mostly it's a few club members and typically 60-70 miles with at least a 100 ft/mi ratio; as Clean said, when the group gets bigger these rides end up taking hours longer than they would solo.

In two weeks, however, I'm riding to San Diego for an annual company event (140 miles each way), so far no luck in trying to recruit partners so looks like it will be solo. I'm looking forward to the solitude.

[benb]

I quite enjoy riding solo, and up until a few years ago that was my default. Then I had an incidente that resulted in me being a John Doe in the ICU for several hours before some sleuthing by the medical staff resolved my identity. As a result I rarely ride alone now out of consideration for my family (I also wear a RoadID). Mostly it's a few club members and typically 60-70 miles with at least a 100 ft/mi ratio; as Clean said, when the group gets bigger these rides end up taking hours longer than they would solo.


Road ID is a great point, I have one of those two.

Your other point about big rides sometimes adding hours is relevant too.

"What do you mean we need to stop at the 3rd coffee shop in 100 miles for lattes when I'm trying to get home to the family?"

I never stop at foo foo coffee shops on solo rides. Convenience store or gas station food purchases are fine with me.

[DarkStar]

My longest solo ride was 250 km. Was not really up for a ride that day, and certainly had not intended to ride that distance but needed to get the miles in. Tried to keep the speed around 30 kph but it kept inching up past 35 kph when not paying attention. Last 50 km linked up some roadies doing speed work, loads of fun. 8:15 to complete the ride.