great to have friends for sure but be honest would you prefair to cycle solo or with group .
Day rides may be different, but I prefer solo touring after a number of unpleasant or even dangerous experiences occasionally touring with others over the last 40-odd years, Anto.
Some people I have ridden with have taken chances I never would and have so put me in danger also. Others have done things I would never consider -- like completely trashing a shared hotel room. For example, I remember coming back to my shared hotel room with groceries to find my touring partner's wet bike was on the bed where he had used the room towels and bedsheets to clean it and the drive train. When that proved insufficient, he used the curtains. Not good. Another time, I came back from filling our bottles to find a partner had thrown the food we had bought in common but he didn't prefer down the pit toilet, leaving us on very short rations for the next several days until we could reach a store off-route to resupply. Yet another time, the partner tasked with packing my tent didn't think it important to include the (expensive lightweight titanium) stakes, figuring we could save weight by using sticks available at future sites...unlikely as we left the forest for the desert.
Mind you, I used to lead tour groups professionally and that is a whole other kettle of fish, so I'm talking about my own rides here. I now much prefer going alone unless it is someone I know and trust thoroughly like a family member or longtime friend I have known in other contexts and whose reactions I can predict and trust over a wide range of circumstances. I have found a touring partnership to be like a marriage of sorts. Add in vicissitudes like weather, fatigue, lack or food or water and over-exertion and things come out of people's character you never knew existed. Far better to go it alone in my experience for the vast majority of the time.
In any case, it is unlikely I would ever again share a tent with a riding partner unless it was my future wife -- it helps to have your own space to retreat to and minimizes a host of problems due to snoring/thrashing in the night and so on -- and I would insist we each have our own complete set of gear/kit so we could part ways if necessary, even for the space of a few days to get some perspective on things or ride solo and meet up in the evening.
At the other end of the spectrum, I thoroughly enjoy taking along and mentoring new cycle-campers so long as they have their own kit and they have reported it works out well and pleasantly for them also.
mind you i still get asked to go with group but i always have a good excuse ready
Not a bad strategy in my experience.
All the best,
Dan.
