Here's a good read to illustrate why you never ride alone!

http://radek.chainslayer.com/blog/border-peak-solo-ride.html

Scary. Probably would have not helped in this situation but it is a GREAT help to remove the chain to make bike roll easier. Still STUPID,STUPID,STUPID to go offroad alone. Tempting but STUPID.

I thought it was joke when took the bike apart! Still had to be heck dragging a stripped bike up the side of that hill! Good read.

Could'a carried the parts to the other side of the trees, but...

Ha-ha, so true!

Lots of "solo adventurists" have died on their solo adventures. Living to tell doesn't make them any less of a dumba$$. Looks a lot like the trails near Cloudcroft, and a whole bunch of us have had to help each other off that mountain before. Solo on the street is scary enough for me.

Wow, what a boring group. I've ridden alone most of my life. Had some problems, but just like the guy in that video nothing that couldn't be dealt with, and a lot of those single-rides have been the best I've ever done. I'd even say they're the reason I ride.

To provide some perspective could I point out that you all ride motorcycles? That's obvious, but just riding motorcycles is risky, isn't it? You know that, and since you still ride you accept those risks, right? But you do things to minimize the risk when at all possible, so you accept what's left as an acceptable level of risk, and you trade that risk for your enjoyment. That's exactly what I do and what he did, no more and no less. I know what the risks are, have thought about them, accept them, have taken steps to minimize the possible problems, am careful, and I enjoy the hell out of it.

Look, if you want to totally eliminate risk then DON'T RIDE. Stay at home on your couch. Except if you spend your risk-free life on the sofa so you can die of a heart attack. Life is risky and at the end you're going to die anyway, why not enjoy the trip? If you've never ridden solo you should try it, it's worth it.

Boring? Not at all, as you pointed out, we all ride so we obviously like doing just that. But after laying at the bottom of a hill off the side of a trail with a shattered pelvis for over 6 hours before someone came along and saw my twisted bike and body back in 1979, I swore that if I ever went remote again I would never do it alone. Today I have a SPOT gps that eases my mind some and I always tell friends family at min a general area I will be.

But most of all, adventure riding is 100 times better when shared with friends anyway.

So I still have to be in the camp that says - "friends don't let friends ride alone"

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.

I'm not at all against riding solo.. but there are dangers that you have to be willing to take. crashing,injury and death are issues you really have to consider. better be well trained in "self" rescue and confident and ride in your riding ability before head out by yourself. I think the solo rider blog showed what it takes to get yourself out of a sticky situation. not saying he's not an idiot but.... He could have used better judgement.

I also think the spot tracking device is a must have riding solo or in a group.
leaving a detailed plan of where you are going and not diverting from that for nothing unless contacting someone before changing is the rule.

and the number 1 rule is not to try to ride something that might be beyond your ability...