I do most of my riding alone. Not many people want to ride as far as I do, so it's either ride alone or not at all, or at least don't ride as much.
I enjoy riding alone. I wouldn't do it if I didn't.
But I am wary about spending a very long time alone after my 2000 season.
I went about 6 months without any real conversation and think I ended up with some kind of depression. I started avoiding people I liked. I felt as if I hated them and didn't want anything to do with them. I also started to hate my weekly phone call to my mother and she even asked me if I was OK sometimes and was starting to get worried about me. It may not have been just the long time I spent alone. I was doing a series of 1000km rides and was getting very tired. Those rides were very tough and it rained on all but one of them. I had mould growing on my feet because they were wet for so long. I had to literally peel my socks off after my ride. I remember trying to scrape the mold off my feet with a stanley blade, but it never all came off. I had a few other hardships too, so it may not have just been lonliness.
I still enjoy riding alone. But I do make a point of doing some social rides now, just incasde I get into the state I did in 2000. It took me about 2-3 years to get over it.
Last year wasn't so bad because I was very focused on points chasing, but even then, I certainly did have low points. One of my aims for my 2000 season was to ride without focus and not caring if I succeded or failed. It was a psychological experiment on myself.
I wouldn't have done what I did last year without my 2000 season. I learned a lot about myself from it. But it took me a few years.