The most prominent theme in “The Rider” is loneliness. The speaker describes it as a personified entity, something tactile that one escapes:” [I]f he roller-skated fast enough / his loneliness couldn’t catch up to him” (Lines 2 - 3). Loneliness is characterized as being without friends or company. Both the boy and speaker are in its presence and want to outrun it. Nye creates a shift: In Line 9, the speaker, pedaling fast on their bicycle, escapes—just as the boy does in stanza one. The speaker claims: “A victory! To leave your loneliness / panting behind you on some street corner” (Lines 9-10). Suddenly, the speaker enjoys happiness and freedom. Loneliness is left in the dark.

Nye doesn’t share why the boy or the speaker are lonely. Despite this, loneliness drives the poem. In the final stanza, the speaker describes how it feels to achieve victory on their bicycle. They describe the feeling as freeing: “While you float free into a cloud of sudden azaleas” (Line 11). The final lines illustrate the boy and speaker’s need to outrun a sense of darkness. In contrast, the pink azalea petals can fall slowly; they can’t feel loneliness, they do not run the risk of being overtaken.