I've been carted off on a stretcher a couple times, with a care flite and a week in ICU to top it off. If it weren't for my friends, I wouldn't be writing this. I've also been there to load others up. If they had been alone, myself and 5 others may have loaded them up a few days later. You mention minimizing risk to an acceptable level. Top quality gear, helmets, boots and a well planned trip cover that. The unexpected turns along the way add the adventure most of us seek. Being lucky doesn't equal being prepared. And being prepared doesn't mean boring, either. The Rim Trail and Switchback at Cloudcroft are anything but boring, and the Sh!# Your Pants Trail will definitely give you all the excitement you can handle for a while. And with friends along, we always come back and share the memories together. Who do you roost for fun? Who can serve as witness to the time you climbed the "unclimbable hill"? What about that mile-long wheelie? Who saw that? Riding alone not only sounds unsafe, but pretty boring after all.

Taking a bike apart and reassembling it to get over a downed tree shows true grit for sure. But so does breathing through a tube for a week to stay alive, because your buddies rescued you and kept you alive long enough to get to the tube. You kinda feel like you owe them a little bit, and have something to share the rest of your life. Get some riding buddies, dude. You and your bike will be happier if you do. And you'll both probably last longer too.