Do You Talk to Yourself on Your Commute?
 

I sometimes do. Is that bad?

Pffff. I talk to myself all the time.

What do you (two) talk about?

Do You Talk to Yourself on Your Commute?

I replied to the thread ”Do you 'Pray' while riding?”

So it’s not so much a conversation, as a “consultation.”

90% of my commute is on rural roads. I'll talk to horses, moo at cows, and yell at squirrels and groundhogs.

Sometimes I talk to myself, but most of my conversations are with animals.

yes, most certainly, nobody else seems to listen while im riding.

Yup. When I'm in busy traffic, I keep a running commentary going in my head about what is going on around me.

"OK, that guy is turning off, I can go ahead. Red light coming up, better unclip. Car in the driveway there, is he pulling out? Keep an eye on him. Is that truck turning? Yes - OK, don't hook me....."

I started doing this after I saw a traffic safety video that suggested the practice as a way to keep alert and get in the habit of situational awareness. Now I just do it without thinking about it. I do it when I'm driving as well. It works.

When I'm not in traffic, just riding recreationally on a quiet road, I constantly have songs playing in my head.

Yep, I do that regardless of whether I'm on the bike or driving my car. I executed a particularly awesome maneuver yesterday because of it. "Dang it, that car pulled out in front of me... clear to pull around it?...No wait, the car it its former lane isn't going that fast... Well we're near an intersection so I bet it will change lanes again....." So instead of impatiently pulling around I backed off a bit and settled in behind the car and sure enough it changed lanes again, leaving my lane spectacularly clear and getting me through the intersection just as the light turned yellow. But by talking it through in my head it helped me "read" the traffic.

When my wife's in the car she gets annoyed with me sometimes because I suddenly ignore her conversation to devote more attention to traffic and until I read your post I didn't even realize that when I do that I'm talking the traffic through in my head.

I sing Pony by Ginuwine; the first verse, then the chorus on repeat.

I’m somewhat shy, so I usually open with small talk about the weather. :o

Same here. Like "Hey Bambi, how's it going?" or I've yelled at the turkeys to clear the road. I've also talked to the drivers of passing cars, but I know they aren't hearing anything, so I'm really talking to myself. I'd kinda hate for anybody to know about all the 'talk' I do while riding, it'd be embarrassing.

Out loud or in my head?

There's a constant conversation running through my head, normal monkey-mind chatter.

It's rare that I talk out loud -- greeting animals (humans inclusive) is one case; screaming at motorists who have just tried to kill me is another...

Oh, you mean kinda like when you ask Him to curse someone who almost ran you over? Yeah, I do that sometimes too. :lol:

I tell my 200lb self that gravity is a figment of my imagination while I'm riding up a hill with a 30lb bike and another 15-20lbs in books + locks + laptop.

I don't talk to myself but I do have a bad case of commuter tourettes. I have to back it down every spring when I realize people are driving with their windows down again.

yes, I talk to myself on my commute, but then again I talk to myself most of the time when I can find no one else to converse with. The good thing is I find myself to be great company.

How else would one have an intelligent conversation? I rarely see other commuters unless they are crossing my path.

Marc

It depends. On roads I talk to the animals but otherwise remain mostly quiet (in my head or otherwise.) If I'm going up a big hill I'll tell myself "Come on." "There ya go" "Almost there." If someone in a car does something stupid I'll say "I see you" or "Come on go already." Out loud of course. Never really got into the habit of talking to myself over my running career, so it didn't carry over to riding. Biking for me is a release. I don't like to bring other stuff with me (thinking about problems at home/work etc.) Just me and the bike. I generally focus on the sounds my bike makes and the road ahead.

When I'm on the trails, I'm constantly yelling "TREE" or "CRAP" or "WOOO" or "JUMP" or, most commonly "BRAAAAAKEEEEE"

No, the voices in my head get angry when I interrupt them.

I surely do...and sometimes we have the Most Interesting conversations I have all day :lol:

Who else can I talk to on my commute?

Yep. Some of the best conversations are on longer rides by myself. :)

- Andy

That's a good way to put it! I say things like "don't run out in front of me" to the critters I see too.

Yep, I usually yell at other boneheads on the road, but when I do something imprudent, I spend a few miles lecturing myself about how dumb I was.

i've taken to wearing a faux Bluetooth. nobody cares... :thumb: