Many a times you may want to strongly ride somewhere bit it so happens that  you do not have a fellow rider to accompany . Your partners of numerous rides are too bogged down with professional or personal commitments to get their ass on the saddle and ride into sunset with us. Losers!!! And you are left alone. At times there is an itch with ourselves as well and we want to take it to the next level by riding solo. Riding solo can be great fun depending or a huge disaster on how well you plan or do not. Having been on my first solo ride to Ladakh last year which lasted 14 days and now as am blogging this…. (Hang on! Just realized that I surpassed Ladakh ride by A WEEK)..  I have been travelling alone for 22 days. Hell Yeah!..OK! Coming Back!  I have my two cents to share regarding being the lonely ranger having an epic of a time

#1 Keep your Family and Friends informed!

If you decide to ride alone, you family is bound to go nuts. And only when you come back will their nerves be soothed. Until then to keep them as sane as possible by keeping them informed of your ride plans. Where will you be riding to? How far is it from your home town? How many days are you going to stay there? All these need to be answered before hand. And once the ride starts keep them updated on the daily status. Give them a call before you start the ride for the day and after you settle down in the evening call them back. If you know that tomorrow you are going to be somewhere remote and connectivity might be a problem, let them know. Nothing makes a parent (or a spouse)  a greater worry than a kid (or a soulmate) from whom they have heard nothing for a day or two especially when that person  is travelling alone.

Along with your parents, let a friend know as well – preferably a rider traveler. A simple text updating your ride status 2-3 times a day should do. In case of an untoward incident or a mishap, family is bound to get panicky. But a rider friend will keep a cool head and will use his rider-traveler instincts help you get out of the mess you land up in. Let your family also know who that person is.

#2 Set shorter daily ride targets than you would do if you were in a group!

Group dynamics in a ride often help all the riders in achieving greater distance than they planned.  Cracking jokes, sharing ride experiences, fooling around at every break will keep the weariness away for a long time and help you in riding longer( though the same can also result in covering smaller distances). Also during the smaller to medium distance group ride sometimes there are two riders (pillion and the rider) to a bike and that helps in keeping company as well as sharing ride distance. But when you riding alone it’s a different ball game all together.  Tiredness will set in easily. And trust me, after riding a long patch of pathetically bumpy roads when you get off your saddle, if you do not have a fellow rider to share your sorrows, your butt hurts more.

Therefore do not try to attempt the same things that you did in a group ride. If you covered 1000kms over 2 days in a group ride, while riding solo make it 3 days if not 4. If you  feel sleepy, do not battle it. Take a power nap! If it still does not work, call it off for the day! There is no one else to get affected because of your weariness except you. Relax and start afresh the next day.

#3 Personal Identification Card and In Case of Emergency Details.

Always keep an ID with you and a list of ICE numbers. Your driving license should serve you well for the ID purpose. Keep another form of ID if you can as a precautionary measure. Have a list of In Case of Emergency details with you. This can be in form of a card or a piece of paper that you have handwritten, The Emergency detail should mention the your residential address with phone numbers, your blood group, contact numbers of at least 3 individuals who should be contacted (by the authorities) in case you meet an accident or end up in an emergency situation. This should always be kept in your pocket. I have even read about few individuals sticking these details to their bodies with help of a tap. Its up to you however.

Also with the advent of mobile phones and we storing the contact details of our friends and family in digital format, we have lost the skill of remembering the numbers by heart. Imagine if your phone runs out of battery or worst you losing the phone! Be clever and keep a small notepad with details of your close contacts or keep a small piece of paper with these details and take care not to lose it.

#4Get friendly with the locals.

Unless you are one of those kinds who like to keep themselves, if at the end of the day (or in between for that matter) if you do not get someone to talk to it can get pretty boring. If you are riding solo, breaking the ice becomes easy because people themselves will approach you to talk to you about your travels. When in group, they let the group enjoy on their own. I have observed that the locals are more welcoming when you are alone. Talk to that old man on the highway hotel about the road conditions and he will tell you a history about the highway and the resultant development. Give the room service boy at the hotel you are staying bragging rights and you may end up discovering a lovely place no one knows about. It will also help you counter some of the loneliness that you would feel at times. Get friendly, click a few pictures with them and share the same with them. People will recognize you the next time you pass by the same road.

With all the above it is also necessary to take care of the tips that I shared for long distance motorcycling. Do that and you will have a journey to remember for a lifetime.

The most important aspect about travels (with, without or inspite of a motorbike) is that it offers us a chance to get to know different people, their habits, values and traditions. While travelling with a group we often forget that while enjoying within our group. Solo riding helps us in getting closer. At the same time it lets us also discover a lot about our strengths, weakness. Shatters some of our age-old beliefs about ourselves and teaches us some skills that we never had before. Keep those in mind that become a better person.

Last updated by Venkat Ganesh at March 27, 2022.