Advocacy & Safety - Tunes while you ride

Do you listen to some sort of radio/cd (either in one ear or both) while riding?

Yes:
No:
Make own sound effects:

When I'm riding, I want nothing to interfere with my ability to hear what's going on around me. No Tunes, except on the rare occassions when I sing to my self and the unlucky creatures within ear shot.

I never listen to music while riding. But recently I've been thinking about getting a small cassette player that fits in my handlebar bag so I can listen to my spanish lessons while riding. Haven't decided yet if that's a good idea or not.

Listening to earphones while cycling is illegal in my state, last I heard. I've been debating whether attaching a small pair of speakers to my handlebars would make me look like a total nerdbag. :D

Alright, who voted that they make their own sound effects? and what sound effects do you make?

Screams of terror; cursing; motorcycle noises; various marvel comics style explosion sounds at all the vehicles I'd like to blow up; the list goes on.:)

One favourite is to get weird looks from drivers by screaming road rage type stuff at my cycling buddy while waiting at red lights. Things like "get off the road" and "get out of the way", etc.

http://pages.prodigy.net/rogerlori1/emoticons/DJ.gif
i'd love to listen to tunes, and would onlt consider it on the ruralist of roads, but i find that my mind wanders from the task at hand too much. cycling is like like surfing the internet. there is a vast world out there but sometimes there is a blank slate.

Originally posted by Allister
Alright, who voted that they make their own sound effects? and what sound effects do you make?



Gotta love those 'VRRRROOOOOM" and "Weeeeee" noises zooming down a hill!!!!

I also "MOOOOOO" at cows along side the road. And talk to dogs, birds, raccoons, etc... :D

Nope. No tunes for me except for whatever song happens to be stuck in my head at the moment. I have no idea where some of them come from. Sometimes it isn't even the whole song -- just the same part over & over & over... :rolleyes:

I love to overtake cyclists with headphones on and yell "boo" as I drop them. :lol:

I don't believe people who say listening to music while cycling doesn't interfere with their situational awareness. And I enjoy proving it at every opportunity.

RichC

Originally posted by Rich Clark
I love to overtake cyclists with headphones on and yell "boo" as I drop them. :lol:

I don't believe people who say listening to music while cycling doesn't interfere with their situational awareness. And I enjoy proving it at every opportunity.

RichC
You should try that same experiment with passing a cyclist that isn't wearing headphones as well. I dare say you'd get a similar reaction.

One thing I see around Montreal is slow "leisure" riders [or "landriders"] with radios on their handlebars. Every now and then a whole family will go by with three radios set to different stations. What an utter crime! Aside from ruining it for the rest of us with obnoxious Celine Dion, I can't imagine why anyone would WANT to listen to the radio while riding. Riding is enough.

I like it quiet, (as quiet as you can get in a city with cars zooming by you) but anyways a person can get a lot of thinking done while not having any distractions. :)

Originally posted by Allister

You should try that same experiment with passing a cyclist that isn't wearing headphones as well. I dare say you'd get a similar reaction.

I always announce myself when I pass. I can't scare the ones who hear me.

RichC

The last thing I'd do is plug in and be oblivious when riding. WHy is is that people feel this need to have music accompanying them for every single second of their lives? ARe they afraid they may actually get a thought running through their heads?

Originally posted by wabbit
WHy is is that people feel this need to have music accompanying them for every single second of their lives? ARe they afraid they may actually get a thought running through their heads?

I take my dog on 4-6 mile walks. I wear a walkman. The music helps me keep up a quick pace and not get bored, and provides a soundtrack for my thoughts. I'm sure SOME people would say 'walking should be enough' but I know from personal experience that when I don't have my music, I walk slower and feel my sore feet very much more. And the main thought that runs through my head is 'How much farther?!' I'm pretty sure commuting on my bike will be the same way, once the novelty wears off.

Congratulations on being a superior human being who doesn't want to listen to music on your bike! Guess we lower lifeforms will just have to watch in awe as you pedal by...
(Inky pumps up the ghetto blaster)

Originally posted by Inkwolf
Congratulations on being a superior human being who doesn't want to listen to music on your bike! Guess we lower lifeforms will just have to watch in awe as you pedal by...
(Inky pumps up the ghetto blaster)
If it's playing Talking Heads, I'm right there with you, brother.

It's kind of comforting to know that even amongst fellow cyclists, prejudice isn't dead.

Originally posted by Allister

If it's playing Talking Heads, I'm right there with you.

Actually, it's probably playing Gilbert & Sullivan, movie scores, and old-time French jazz singers, but bring your Talking Heads CD and we'll take turns. :p

How odd...I thought this thread was gonna be what tunes we SANG while we were riding! Don't you guys/gals SING while you ride? On my world tour I spent hours,days, months, singing "Both Sides Now" by Joni Mitchell. Why spend all your own time and energy riding only to surrender your 2nd most important sense to some DJ or Record company?

roughstuff

Originally posted by Roughstuff
How odd...I thought this thread was gonna be what tunes we SANG while we were riding! Don't you guys/gals SING while you ride?

I sing when I get bored on long descents. The Screaming Jets usually. As far as headphones while riding goes, I don't bother. I can listen to music when I get home.

I prefer silence when I'm home, audio books on long drives, and music when I'm exercising. :D Sing? Me?? In PUBLIC??? AAAK!

Hmmm...I am an UPhill singer; i think it cheers me on as I work my way up the passes. Sometimes I sing U2 songs (I will follow,etc.) on the way downhill.

Usually I am alone while riding so no one has to endure my voice. It has the added benefit of scaring off dogs, bears, and other such creatures.

roughstuff

I find my self singing the "da da da" song on long boring rides :) Luckly, i dont go on many long boring rides!

Originally posted by Roughstuff
Usually I am alone while riding so no one has to endure my voice. It has the added benefit of scaring off dogs, bears, and other such creatures.


I have to say I never thought of that.

I don't see what's wrong with having tunes along.

You don't have to have it cranked up so you do hear a thing. Driving for one needs more concentration that riding bikes, and people normally have music in their cars.

On busy roads, I don't hear anything anyways no matter how loud the volume, so I take them off. But most of my ride is in the hills with very few cards going by, so I have my beats with me.

This is my portable unit:
http://www.ratedpc.com/review.asp?id=50

The coolest mp3 player there is. It's weighs less than 10 grams and is no bigger than a ciggarett lighter. Also, it has a cool arm band strapso it doesn't get in the way of anything.

Who said anything about being superior? It's just dumb and dangerous to plug in when you're cycling. Walking your dog is something else, listen all you want to whatever. Geez, touchy aren't we?

As for singing, that I do. For some reason, one song I sing to myself when cycling is "Quinn the Eskimo". It just goes with the rhythm of pedaling.

I used a Walkman a couple of times when I was younger and distributed advertising materials. I would never consider using one when going for a ride, for two reasons. Firstly, it takes away one of the two most important senses. Secondly, I enjoy being free and letting the mind think whatever it wants to think without something interfering so directly as having music in one's ear. It's nothing about superiority, but I think it is necessary to appreciate silence.

And yes, sometimes I sing a song but mostly I am quiet. I have never sang while climbing though, but long descents seem to inspire singing.

/Csson

ARe they afraid they may actually get a thought running through their heads?


It's just dumb and dangerous to plug in when you're cycling.

Myabe I'm an idiot, but I also took offense to what you said.

The fact is I probably have had more useful and productive thinking done in the last four years than you ever have in your entire life time.

And I'm a safer rider than most others I have seen.

So I think it's ok if I listin to my tunes when I ride.

*just kidding* chill. :)

I'm lucky if I can drown out the voices in my head when I'm riding...<g>

Seriously, if I don't have both ears free and open, I miss out on life-saving traffic noise.

ride safely,
tt

Originally posted by Tom_The_Bikeman
Seriously, if I don't have both ears free and open, I miss out on life-saving traffic noise.

I've thought of traffic noise as many things in the past. Strangely, life-saving isn't one of them.

Originally posted by OctoberBlue
Nope. No tunes for me except for whatever song happens to be stuck in my head at the moment. I have no idea where some of them come from. Sometimes it isn't even the whole song -- just the same part over & over & over... :rolleyes:
Same here as far as the same part of the same song over and over. That's when I try to force another song into my head. Then that gets lodged there and I have to try and find another.

At the risk of being labled stupid and dangerous I must admit that I sometimes ride with a CD player. I always use it at a level which allows me to hear all the traffic around me.

Most of the time though it's just me and my bike.

On another subject - what about cyclists who use mobile phones while riding? I've seen it a few times and as far as I'm concerned - that is dangerous.

Originally posted by MediaCreations
On another subject - what about cyclists who use mobile phones while riding? I've seen it a few times and as far as I'm concerned - that is dangerous.

Saw a guy two nights ago. Mobile phone, wrong side of the road, no light. I almost thought about calling the funeral directors when I got home and advising them to cancel their weekend plans.

I saw a moron on the bike path blabbing on his phone while riding. I see roller bladers do that too, more often.

Originally posted by wabbit
I saw a moron on the bike path blabbing on his phone while riding. I see roller bladers do that too, more often.

Jeez, you are all about first impressions huh? :rolleyes:

It has happened to me once or twice where I answered the phone while riding, and not bothering to stop, one 'cause I didn't really feel it was necessary given that there wasn't anyone around, the road was wide, and I had reduced my speed quite a bit.

Secondly, most of the calls I get I very short, so if I judge it safe enough I reduce the speed and answer the phone, and talk for twenty seconds, put the phone back and get going along again.

Yeah, I'd be a "moron" only if I was talking and riding when going 25miles per hour on the busy road side.