Cadence & music
 

Lots of stuff has been said about tunes that "motivate" a workout, but does anyone else have a song they can just play in their head as a guide for cadence?
Mine is "Sub" by 99 Posse:

Play in their head? I have a bluetooth speaker in a top tube bag (or handlebars) to actually hear music while I ride.

Slayer works well for motivation. \m/

Nope. The topic is not motivation, it's about knowing the tempo of a song matches the cadence you want. If you can't call it up from memory, it doesn't count; you have to recognize that it's being heard at the right speed.
Maybe others haven't experienced this, but I can not usually tell whether my cadence is in the 70-80 rpm range or 90-100 rpm range without looking at a cycling computer. However, I CAN tell whether a tune is being played at the right tempo. That's why I find that song useful - not because it's motivating, but because it's a kind of ruler.

I like 'Jackson'...Johnny and June.

We got married in a fever, hotter than a pepper sprout....we've been talkin' 'bout Jackson, ever since the fire went out.

This is why I can't listen to music while riding.

Hearing one beat and pedaling to another drives me nuts.

old school punk-all over the place...kinda like my riding and cadence.

and one that will make you pedal faster:

Am I weird for really, really not liking to listen to music while riding? It's not even a safety thing for me. It's just that riding is my quiet time. My time for myself, I guess (which is part of the reason I don't do a ton of group rides, although I have been doing more).


I just love the chance to be alone with myself, and with my thoughts, only considering the task of burning my legs up. I fully believe that I've found out a lot about myself riding solo and suffering out on hot ass, windy county roads. idunno.

I'm sure you're not alone in that respect. For me, "background music" is usually not what I'm thinking, and if it's too insistent, it is distracting. But the tunes that come to mind when I'm riding, or walking at a good pace, or making my way along an open road on a moto or in a car ARE my thoughts.

Often I wish I were more musically articulate, because sometimes I'll remember or get an idea for a couple of bars of a melody, but will feel clueless as to how the rest of it goes, or how to develop it. The theme just goes round and round, and then that can be like any other distracting background music. Other times, the music just perfectly expresses the mood and just sort of wells up on its own, and subsides naturally as the scene passes or the terrain changes.

Usually I have whatever one of the last songs I listened to stuck in my head. I think I up or down tempo the beat to whatever cadence I'm pushing. When I actually listen to music when riding on commutes I can tell a difference at times based on real music tempo.

Belle & Sebastian's "Boy with the Arab Strap".

I like your tune...it even has a warm up till 1:50, then dropes the hammer :) I'm also in the camp of being a music lover, but not wanting to obstruct any road sounds - so these cadence songs are all internal. I usually have one of my ever-searching new bands in my head, but if I had to pick a favorite it'd be Demo Man

depends how far you ride .... if you do long rides (6-8hrs), a bit of music is always welcome especially when you are tired

Same here. Maybe we are both weird.

Someone once said that his bike was his "two wheeled cloister."

+1. So there's at least 3 of us...

I have a little computer on my bars that tells me my cadence at any given second.

Magic!

I have them, too, but the numbers are small and one has to look down at them, plus, they aren't half as entertaining as a song. When I find that my cadence is slow and I just want to get it back in the zone, I don't want to be staring at a little screen on my handlebars. That said, there are times I really do want to watch the numbers.
The time I most like to use the computer is on long-ish flats, especially at the beginning, when I want to work up speed. I've found that, typically, a difference of one cog is a difference of about 10 rpm, so for a nice acceleration, I'll work up to 105 rpm and shift then. Once I've shifted for the last time, I'll be around 95, and if I can keep that steady, I'm golden. If I want to be a bit quicker about it, I'll shift as it goes over 110, maybe to 115, and drop it two cogs once at cruising speed. I'll also like to be looking at the computer at such times, because I'll be watching my speed - to see how well I might be doing. Only by concentrating like this do I ever sustain mid-20s solo.

when you need to finish strong - just released from Metallica showing they've still got legs, this is a Jaaaaamm

great song great album. one of my top ten albums of the 90's.

I keep my earbuds around for my long rides too. It can break up the monotony. Safety isn't much of concern due my recumbent bike and my larger mirror off to my left side. I see cars well before they catch up to me.

For music, I tend to like more upbeat, poppish stuff. Lately, some Serebro from Russia, or T-ara from S Korea. It's a bit cheesy, but it does pick me up after a few hours out.