Solo riding - good or bad?

When I first started riding all I did was solo rides ..and absolutely loved taking myself off into wild and remote places ...the solitude was fantastic and the beauty of it was that I could go at whatever pace suited me .
Like yourself I have always left details as to where I am going with the missus ..these would probably be fairly vague to her as to exactly where I was ..but good enough for rescue services to start a search ...
I still love riding solo but over the years have met some fantastic people who now form our local riding group and good strong friendships have been formed .
With the passing years ( not that I think of myself as old ! ) I now tend to favour group rides whenever possible..with time comes a familiarity with the people you ride with and there is no pressure ...
It also lessens the risk if something should go wrong that medical attention can be sought quickly...something that was brought home recently with Andy's accident .
I do take less risks on my own ...but hope I never lose the will to get out there solo

It's on the garmin edge 1000 live track share my ride .. 
Or use your iPhone find my phone ... Would work the same I bet 

i use the app on garmin connect and start a live track and invite the wife to track me .. 
Dont use it very much but it's there so she can keep an eye on me you can even share it on Facebook Twitter .. With other friends .. 

I think on trail centres, you are ok because sooner or later someone will come. For me, I almost never ride at trail centres so sometimes I do think about that and risk myself a bit, specially when on most places the phone has no signal! One thing I need to get soon is a good whistle to take with me on my bag.
But basically, I think it is not a good idea to ride alone...a lot of the fun of MTB is also the racing between friends and seeing who bottles or crashes first! Lol

Yep got the ice well it came with my helmet ..

iv ridden alone as many times, if not more than riding in a group, due to my billy no-mates work rota. i definately think its held me back with skills improvement as im more aware of risk when im alone. but like hodgy says it can also feel quite stimulating being alone on quiet trails, reflecting on things and doing your own thing. i reckon iv found more mid-week riders to ride with since joining this forum tho, so well done us!

Sorry to be stupid but what does ICE stand for? Being a shift worker I do 60% of my riding solo, but generally stick to Cannock. I never ride anywhere new or that I don't know alone though.
When I first started I didn't use Strava but something similar (can't remember it's name) but it had a free, real time, link up with the home PC so the Mrs could actually see where I was and even if I'd stopped moving on the map, I thought that was brilliant for solo rides.

I ride solo quite often, if I didn't I would never get out! The thing with solo riding is you need to know when to hold back

Good point - if I'm on my own I usually hold back anyway. Yesterday was just a daft mistake and me probably not paying attention. In fact I've the same once before on that section so should have known better.

Pez can you remeber what the app was called?

Nothing wrong with riding solo if you're sensible and ride within your limits, one tip i will give for solo riders is to ride with spd's, because if you're out in the middle of nowhere and you crash and knock yourself out at least you can sleep soundly knowing your bike is still attached to you

When you become a statistic don't say you weren't warned  

I ride the Pentland hills quite often, sometime they are busy some times they are not, I wouldn't ride solo in areas where there is no civilization for days on end

You can get stickers or wrist bands, think there's other options too