Mountain Biking - Do you ride solo? Do you read magazines? Do you listen to music?

Just a few general questons.

When you folks go out riding, do you ride solo or prefer to be with someone else?

Does anybody listen to music? I know you can't have it blaring due to the fact it's nice to hear what's going on around you, but I would think getting one of those small iPods and keeping the volume rather low, but hearable while riding would make it more "intense" so to speak.

And lastly, magazines. Anybody order any magazines? I'd like to subscribe to some but I don't know where to go. I don't know of any biking magazines besides the damn crotch rocket ninja motorcycles. :( Anything from just the latest news, to ordering parts, etc. Kind of like, the bicycle version of Car and Driver or Popular Mechanics. :)

1. I do always ride with someone on trails. Not so much because of safety but its good having 2 people to ride with in general.

2. I dont listen to music while riding, mainly because I dont have any MP3 player that works, but if I had an iPod I probalby would sometimes.

3. Dont order in any magazines so cant help you there :)

Ditto what blue said. With the music, its only good if you have an idea where you are going, and if there is no-one riding with you. It can easily distract you.

When you folks go out riding, do you ride solo or prefer to be with someone else?
depends. if i'm up for a ride and no one's around to come, i don't mind going solo. i didn't really start trail riding with others until this season anyhow.



Does anybody listen to music?
no music for me.



And lastly, magazines. Anybody order any magazines?
don't order any, not suscribed to any. but on my trip to england in march my wife was nice to me and bought me april editions of mbuk (www.mbuk.com) and mbr (www.mountainbikerider.com). haven't really read anything in them yet, but i browsed though and looked at the pictures :p .

I sometimes ride alone if I really want to ride and no one else is free. I usually go to the jumps if I do this though cos there is almost always someone there that I know. I occasionally go up to our tracks alone but not often.

I occasionally listen to music when riding but only when DJing, I find that if I DH with music it throws off my flow.

At the moment I don't have any subscriptions to bike magazines and rarely by them but I am probably going to get o0er for an Aussie one called Clict...... Say hello to their South Australian Insideline race series photographer:D

1) I ride alone 99.9% of the time.
2) I do not listen to music as we are inundated, it seems, with music no matter where we go these days. A whole 'nother thread there.
3) I did not subscribe until yesterday. Since I am a Team Performance member, they sent me a free one year subscription to Bicycling mag. After reading through it last night, I concluded that it is a good resource.

1 - I ride with someone 70% of the time. I hate riding solo now.
2 - nope. I like to hear my bike
3 - only decline.

1 - I ride alone about 50% of the time. There are some things I really enjoy about riding solo so it is nice sometimes.

2 - Never listen to music while riding.

3 - I subscribe to Mountain Bike Action, BIKE, Bicycling and Dirt Rag. Dirt Rag is by far the best.

1 - Most of the time its solo. Now that I have a Mon-Fri 7 to 5 job, all my friends and family have weird shift jobs.
2 - Not on the trails. I tried it once when riding a Bike Hike trail, hated it.
3 - An exgirlfriend gave me a subscrip to Bike, but that was like couple years ago. Before they got bought/changed. When the wife needs to get something form Barnes&Noble is the only time I read em. I just tell her to find me at the bike or surf magazines.

Noticed that Walmart stopped carrying the mtb magazines. Keep out the media that shows customers that there are better bikes outside those walls.

Noticed that Walmart stopped carrying the mtb magazines. Keep out the media that shows customers that there are better bikes outside those walls.

I was out of town at Charlestown, WV last year and was starting to get bored. I decided to go over to Wally world and pick up a bike magazine to read. I couldn't believe it, they had 5 different surf magazines and zero bike magazines. Seemed kind of odd giving the location of the store.

1: If possible, always with at least one friend, I don't like riding by myself. :(
2: I do have an MP3 player but on the trails I ride I can't imagine being distracted by music so no, I don't listen to music while riding. I prefer to hear the sound of hissing air as I get a punctured tire or the cries of pain as one of my friends fall. ;)
3: Before I never did but now I've read 2 bike magazines I realised the good ones really do have awesome stuff in them.

I sometimes prefer to go solo while looking at a magazine and listening to music all at the same time.
:D

1 - I ride solo at least 60 - 75% of the time. If I ride with others, I especially like to ride with someone I'm just introducing to the sport ('cause I love to watch the look on their face as they get their first true mtb rush ; )

2 - Just the music of nature - birds, wind in the trees, dirt crunching under my tires; it's a big part of the trip for me.

3 - Mountain Bike Action, Dirt Rag, Twenty Six (? - or something like that). I really like mtb vid's, too!

1. I ride with at least one friend 90% of the time.

2. No music, normally shooting the $hit with my riding buddy when we're not flying down a hill.

3. Sports Illustrated and a couple Eurotrash car magazines to help my bro with his magazine fundraiser for high school football.

1. I ride with friends when I'm just hanging out, but most of my riding that involves getting better at riding is alone.

2. I just listen to music when I'm on the computer, but when I get an MP3 player I may try listening when I'm riding in parking lots and etc... but it's nice to hear cars coming or people talking to you in case they do, lol

3. I don't subscribe to any, but I think I'll subscribe to Mountain Bike Action, and maybe BIKE. I haven't read DirtRag yet...

1. I almost always ride solo (unless my dog counts)

2. No music while riding

3. I don't read any MTB magazines.

Regarding magazines, it depends on what you're interested in. Bicycling caters to roadies mostly, but it does include a subscription to Mountain Bike magazine. Mountain Bike magazine is a thin little thing with a lot of product "reviews". Nice to flip through, but basically just a vehicle for Rodale to suck up to their advertisers.

Mountain Bike Action is somewhat XC oriented and is a pretty good read if you like to follow professional racing. I will say that they do a good job with their product reviews, getting in-depth and actually pointing out weaknesses (instead of just rehashing a company's marketing B.S.).

Bike magazine seems to focus more on downhill, urban, big hit stuff than the others. It plays up the "extremely awesome gnarliness" of mountain biking. Not my favorite magazine, so maybe I'm not gnarly.

Dirt Rag does a great overall job, presenting good reviews, covering various subsets of the sport, and using a bit more intellectual writing. Each issue covers a lot, and it's my favorite of all that have been mentioned.

Commuting: yes. For anything else: generally not
Hell no
I used to get Mountain Bike back before it was bundled with Bicycling, but they REALLY been slipping the last couple of years so I let it lapse. Now Dirt Rag is the only bike magazine I get other than Bicycle Retailer which is more of an industry sheet

i hate riding with other people

i ride to get away from noise

and i get N.G. Adventure

1. I prefer riding with other people but will ride solo if none of my riding buddies are up for a ride.

2. I don't. I have an iPod and love it but have never tried riding mountain with it (I use it when I mount the roadie). I may try it on a long climb but would never do so on a descent - too many things going on and things are moving to fast to have one of your senses diminished.

3. Bike, Mountain Bike Action (my favorite), Bicycling/Moutain Bike (they come bundled).

1. Usually ride solo but dont mind riding with others.
2. No music.
3. No Subscriptions...yet

Dirt Rag does a great overall job, presenting good reviews, covering various subsets of the sport, and using a bit more intellectual writing. Each issue covers a lot, and it's my favorite of all that have been mentioned.

Maybe they have changed since a couple of years ago but I never found them to do a good overall job. Very cliquish magazine in my experience. Not that thats bad, but not my cliques ;)...




Bike magazine seems to focus more on downhill, urban, big hit stuff than the others. It plays up the "extremely awesome gnarliness" of mountain biking. Not my favorite magazine, so maybe I'm not gnarly


I agree. I am in that part of the industry and don't like the mag. Its the commercial version of it. Decline is a little more realistic and in touch with the 'gnar' side of the industry. Bike is just a paid ad :)

Maybe they have changed since a couple of years ago but I never found them to do a good overall job. Very cliquish magazine in my experience. Not that thats bad, but not my cliques ;)...

Good point, Maelstrom. Dirt Rag does eminate a hint of superiority, and they lean a bit too far left at times (fine by me, but keep it out of my cycling). I just like a thick magazine with plenty of content relevant to all levels of rider.

1. Solo about 75% of the time
2. Absolutely! Especially on long rides with long climbs
3. Bicyling with my Team Performance membership, initially, but continued it. Find it entertaining on my vanpool to work.

1.) Depends, sometimes it's good to have someone with you. Other times to hell it's with everyone.
2.) Nope, since I am about go get a Yepp that might change though.
3.) I used to get Car & Driver but now I just read the Economist.

1. I like ride with friends, if they're ever willing.
2. I find myself humming or thinking of music.
3. I don't have any subscripts, I only glance at mags at Chapters, I buy- but rarely.

i always ride with someone
but as i seem to be progressin a lot fast then the people i ride with. So somtimes i i gotta slow down
i just think make a tune up, helps me keep my pace
never bought one,

1. On trails, I like to ride w/ someone. On street, I dont mind going alone.
2. On trails I wont listen to music, I like to listen to my bike, see if anything is wrong. But sometimes on road, in an area I know, and there is not a lot of traffic, i'll listen to my ipod shuffle.
3. Bicycling Magazine

1. 99% of the time with people
2. Nope
3. Mountain Biking Uk and Decline

1. I cant remember the last time I went biking solo. I never go biking alone.

2. Sometimes I listen to music, but not with earphones. If I want to listen to music biking, one of us will usually park a truck near the track and blair the stereo, or we will just run 600ft of extension cords into the woods. Other than that, I dont listen to music while riding, especially with an MP3 player.

3. I subscribe to BIKE.

1. I'd prefer to bike with friends, but usually end up going on my own.
2. I don't listen to music. I've considered it but I'm afraid that it would detract from the attention I'm suppose to be dedicating to the trails.
3. No subscriptions but I've read Mountain Bike Action and Dirt Rag...both are very good.

1. when I'm trail riding I ride with somebody probably 95% of the time. On the roadie probably 50% of the time.

2. On trails I don't, on the road when I'm solo I do.

3. I subscribe to Mountain Bike Action - It's cheap, 2 yrs for like $28

1. I go solo about 95% of the time. I live in community so it is an opportunity to get away. Besides, I usually pick up a friend out at the trail.

2. Music, sometimes on an easy trail or if I'm doing a conditioning ride on my semi-slicks around the lake. I can just see my mp3 player attached to my arm getting trashed because I did something stupid like brush up against a v-tree. I don't make a lot of money.

3. Magazines--nope. Although, as a roadie back in high school I was a subscriber to Bicycling.

strictly solo, no, yes

I ride 90% alone and when I ride with others on a planned group ride I prefer to ride with those better than myself so i can learn from them and spend the next 90% practicing. I dont mind at all a group ride where we just happen to be going the same direction and speed but prefer solo. each Thurs. I lead a group ride at a local trail but other than that Im a soloist mostly. to see someone new at "the Battlefield" and see their surprise at how good the trails are is cool with me (usually a civilwar battlefield is not known for its mountain bike trails)

I do not listen to recorded music because sound as stated prevoiously is part of the experience. the bike, the trail,the natural sounds,the car crash ( Isabell in 03 tore down a LOT of trees that used to block out the traffic noises). I dont ride street at all so I cant answer that

my daughter got me a subscription to Mt Biking and it has some good tips on braking,turning,spinning etc each month, even though its a cheap ploy to try and get people to buy their book. I look at Dirt Rag when in Books-a-Million and if the "OLD COOT" aint so grumpy Ill sometimes bring a copy home but I wont subscibe. waaayyy too leftwing for me! mt bike quarterly has the best gear reviews( they ride the stuff for 40 days not 40 minutes) if youre looking for new stuff

1) Solo.
2) No. too distracting...
3)nope.

1. I ride solo about 80% of the time (not by choice) because no one I know likes to ride as much as I do.
3. Yes, music almost always. I do like to have some peace and quiet while I ride in the woods, but definitely music to drown out the sound of city noise.
3. As for magazines, I read anything I can get my hands on, which is not much where I live, I can't believe how hard it is to find a place that sells even one mountain bike magazine, yet they sell stuff like Knitting World WTF??? I am planning to subscribe to Dirt Rag

It depends.. Early-mid day I ride by myself or if a buddy wants to come he can.. Evening-night with someone.. power in numbers.

I bang out mussic all the time.. I'm alert as a cat so it dosen't really bother me if I can't hear.

and I used to, not anymore.. their so filled with ads and stupid pictures, it's annoying.

[QUOTE=Roasted]
Does anybody listen to music? QUOTE]

I went for a ride last night and thought about this during the ride.
I listen to music all the time...at work, at home, at the bar, in my car. I was considering getting an iPod or MP3 player for my bike rides but last night I realized that I thoroughly enjoy the sound of wind in my ears, animals rustling through the forest, my buddy yelling for me to stop so he could change his flat. I can have music anytime I want, I can't have those sounds anytime I want.

[QUOTE=Roasted]
Does anybody listen to music? QUOTE]

I went for a ride last night and thought about this during the ride.
I listen to music all the time...at work, at home, at the bar, in my car. I was considering getting an iPod or MP3 player for my bike rides but last night I realized that I thoroughly enjoy the sound of wind in my ears, animals rustling through the forest, my buddy yelling for me to stop so he could change his flat. I can have music anytime I want, I can't have those sounds anytime I want.

excellent perspective!!!