iohan.gue

Do you listen to music while touring?
If you don't why not?
If you do, what do you listen to?

I love State of Trance episodes. They just work great for me. Sometimes I have it loud to dampen the sound of the wind, rain and cars passing by. Sometimes I have it so low so that I can hear my surroundings and sometimes I would pause it and realize that it wasn't playing few hours later.

fietsbob

I am musician so on my tour I brought my pocket Mandolin with me, and occasionally sat in on Pub Sessions
on my tour in Ireland and Scotland .

I listen to what the other players are doing and try to play along .

Update: got a refret job on my carbon fiber Mandolin, it's now the Go to musical instrument, carried in a Fiberglass Case,
strapped down on Me with Back pack straps , or stowed in the bike trailer ..




I borrowed Books On Tape Cassettes, from the Public Library
when I was commuting an hour , on a quiet road
while the drivers were eating supper and watching TV,so It was also low traffic .
and the same route every day , thats different.

On tours, I went to Europe to see those places , so I pay attention to them. no radio in my ears , then.

In Camp, at night, with an earpiece,
I'd see what I could hear on my Sony AM/FM/SW/LW radio.

staehpj1

I don't listen to recorded music when on tour. Why, don't I? Not sure, I just don't. I do sometimes listen to audio books. I also play music in my head and sometimes sing out loud.

That said, despite being a minimalist and ultralight packer, I am considering taking a musical instrument (and a fly rod too) on my next tour. I have been learning to play a few musical instruments since I retired and I also took up building them. I built a couple ultralight stick dulcimers with backpacking and bike touring in mind. One is 7.2 ounces and the other just a bit more.

I expect some folks will be surprised that I'd take those extra items given the lengths I go to in order to save weight. Since between the stick dulcimer and the fly rod it can be less than a pound of extra stuff and I think I can keep my gear weight quite low even with the extra items. I don't have the exact choices for my next trip completely scoped out yet, but I expect the base weight to be 12-14 pounds or so based on the totals from my last few bike touring and backpacking trips.

mm718

When I am riding off-road I listen to music and podcasts and enjoy both immensely. At some point I realize that I am paying more attention to the music than the scenery so I'll turn off the mp3 player. I like the back and forth of this. I think you can get tired of music fairly quickly so podcasts are a nice change of pace.

I would never listen to anything on the road because I really lose my attention/awareness and believe that it compromises my safety.

jhawk

I used to listen to music as I was trundling around town on the old MTB. Now, I don't really listen to it - I would, but I can't seem to find the right 'type' of music to listen to as I pedal along. I have so much to choose from! And, it drains the battery on my phone. Although, this summer I'll be taking an MP3 player with me whenever I go touring.

antokelly

love music i play guitar so its mostly folky acoustic stuff i like ,bob dylan/ neil young/ john prine/ .led zeplin/ pink floyd/ planxty/, some book's sherloch homes / adventures of huckel berry finn clasic what else ,war of the worlds jeff wayne.anyhing to take my mind off oh S..t i have to sleep in a tent tonight.

indyfabz

Never while riding. Off bike, only if I am somewhere where there is music playing.
I don't want the sound of music while I am riding. Would much rather listen to the sounds already around me. Besides, I am usually thinking about things when I am riding. I use an iPod at the gym. I find that if I am thinking about something even moderately I usually ignore the music.

Papa Tom

I have a pretty cool semi-home-made mp3/speaker set-up mounted on my handlebars that is almost always playing when I am on the bike, regardless of whether I am commuting, leisure-riding with my wife, or on one of my mini-tours. Part of my job is programming music for several buildings in a township, so my music library is enormous and features just about every style of music you can think of.

When I set up a playlist for a tour, I like to select "deep cuts" (album tracks, "b-sides," and indy artist stuff) that I don't normally listen to. My time on the saddle is a great time to discover new music, as I've spent my lifetime listening to the same 100,000 songs!

Cyclebum

Yeah, the earphones are plugged in. Music or radio, depending. On/off, depending. Touring or local. Figure that if I'm gonna get hit from behind, by the time hearing sounds an alarm, be too late anyway. Thus, the rearview.

Erick L

I bring earphones mostly for air or train travel, but I've used it on occasion when bored in a RV park or to drown out engine noise on busy roads. I mostly listen to jazz fusion and progressive rock on the road. My favorite bands are Tribal Tech and King Crimson. My new phone has a FM player so I'll probably listen to local talk radio in camp. I never listen to music on quiet roads since I want to hear ambiant sounds and incoming vehicules.

imi

I don't listen to music while riding, but carry a guitar with me.
I usually play an hour at "lunch/siesta break" and not at campsites as not to disturb the neighbours.

When riding the sound of the wind and traffic is fine

wahoonc

Occasionally depending on the road conditions, occasionally when camping to drown out obnoxious neighbors. I listen to just about anything but rap. I use an MP3 player, have a couple current favorite is the Sansa Clip+ weighs next to nothing and is very small, I like the fact that I can stuff a micro SD card in it for expansion.

Aaron

Rob_E

When I'm commuting, I am almost always listening to music, a podcast, or an audiobook. When I'm touring, I'm less likely to. I'll have something with me that I might listen to in the tent, but I'm far less likely to listen while I'm riding. Partly because I will often need to pay attention to my route, since it is not familiar, which can distract me from podcasts or audiobooks, and partly because when commuting, I like to use a set of bluetooth headphones, but when touring I try to limit how many rechargeable items I carry with me, and bluetooth headphones wouldn't last through a day of riding anyway.

nun

I listen to something all the time when I'm touring. I only put an ear bud in my right ear so the left can easily hear other stuff on the road.

I have a small radio that I use to listen to NPR, it's a nice constant and makes the unknowns of bike touring more enjoyable.
My iPhone is loaded with podcats and audio books, stuff like Jeeves and Wooster, detective stories, BBC radio comedy and
the BBC show "In Our Time". I also listen to a lot of Nerdist podcasts that I down load when I have wifi access.

My music goes from a few favorite classics like Vaughn Williams, Beethoven and Mozart to Lou Reed, Bowie, Stephen Sondheim
Clash, Pink Floyd and my new guilty pleasure.....Garfunkel and Oates.

shipwreck

Hey, a fellow Wodehouse fan(@nun)

mostly I don't listen to music, to save battery's. But-when it's late and I have some miles to make up I use the skyFM app on the iPhone, choose the dance music club mix channels, and find that my cadence becomes set to the beat. Some of my fastest rides have been to techno club mix and such. Been a lot of years since I went "clubbing", but it still gets me going.
I do carry a mophie juice pack, and on long boring days will listen to old radio shows off the net. Men from the ministry, Buck Rogers, Lum and Abner. It tickles me to think what the producers and actors of those old shows would think about their work being listened to in the middle of nowhere on a sci fi like device.

gif4445

When I'm touring in new surroundings, usually no music. However, when the landscape is the same old thing, or I need a boost, I put the earbuds in. Realizing it carries some risk with it, which I accept. But I also use a rear view mirror religiously. Last September, I found out how much of Idaho is a desert. And music helped me navigate the state. I mainly use my iphone for the music source. But occasionally, when I'm really really needing it, I pull out the old mp3 player with the 70's and 80's music!

When I'm riding to train, I almost always have music going. If I couldn't listen to music, my mileage would probably be 1000-2000 miles less per year.

nun

I carry a 7500mAh backup battery so I can recharge the iPhone. Still wifi or 3G will drain the battery quickly so I never use the iPhone to listen to the radio, I use my small FM/AM radio for that because it just uses a single AAA.

I find that up tempo music also makes me ride faster, Wodehouse does not.......

Papa Tom

I just think it's very cool that 17 threads in, this hasn't turned into a mudslinging fest over whether listening to music while biking is dangerous. Yay, us!

nun

On the train my iPhone makes the miles zip by. I plug in and read, email, listen to music and podcasts or watch youtube videos.

antokelly

how do you guys manage to listen to the radio all i can get is noise,i did buy a small sony radio totally useless as is my smartphone.

reuteler

almost always lectures on tape (or ipod). great courses loves me.

JoshSlocum

Never, not ever. Paying too much attention to my surroundings. One of the primary reasons I ride is to escape the constant visual and noise bombardment that we live with. I'd rather listen to birds, wind in the trees, etc.

capejohn

There is no rhyme or reason to my listening to music on tour. I bring an ipod with a full mix of music. Rock, jazz, pop, classical, foreign etc. When the mood strikes I put in the buds and crank the music.

veganbikes

Pretty much that. I do most of my riding with music unless with other folks just to help keep my cadence steady and keep the energy up.
I have a small speaker that I got cheap that is solar powered or hand cranked and can tune into radio and has an aux plug for an MP3 which is what I did. I also have a pair of Yurbuds which were designed for running so they A. don't slip out B. allow ambient noise to come through C. be sweat resistant. If I am biking with the buds in, I run a lower volume and am generally pretty aware of my surroundings.

As a musician I did take one of my ukuleles with me on tour last time but I probably won't do it again unless I can find a better way to transport it. However I might get another harmonica and learn that or get one of those flatter smaller ukuleles or take along my thumb piano or bring along the iPad I won and use one of my apps that has instruments.

nun

I also have a small Sony personal radio. Signal reception is variable, but I can usually pick up NPR. When that fades out I'll hunt around the dial or go over to the iPhone.