Hi all,

Didn't want to take the "do you or don't you listen to music,..." thread off topic, so I'll just ask here,...how come there are those riders out there who feel the need to pass judgement on others? Whether they listen to music or not, ride a Huffy from K-Mart or the latest dream machine from their favorite shop, wear jeans, tennies, and a t-shirt or tricked out in team gear, whether they're on a trail or on the street, doesn't matter to me,...if they hold their line, watch their left (or mine, if they're passing), give a "hi" if they're able to at the moment, in other words, show courtesy and respect for others, I'm happy. I don't care if you're listening to Metallica or Lawrence Welk,...you're on a bike fer cryin' out loud!

If we can't, and maybe we shouldn't expect, those driving four wheels to respect those of us on two, at the very least, can't we at least respect each other?

But hey, it's just an opinion,...nothing more, nothing less.

Thanks.

hmmm...p'raps cos stupid people post stupid threads asking stupid questions or making stupid statements in the first place!....now I think about it, kinda like this one!

Hitchy

The threads with more hits are the people bashing ones or the related to the possibility of picking up chicks. I'm afraid this one has no future...

Regards

someone who rides his bike in a way that endangers me and others does not deserve my respect.

Listening to music while riding a bike! Next you'll be eating a cheeseburger and talking on a cell phone. Riding a bike is riding a bike -- you don't need to be doing anything else while riding.

[Edit]: Oops, I guess this belongs in the "Do you listen to music?" thread.

While I agree with what you are saying (we need to respect eachother) I personally feel that riding a bike (especially on roads) requires you to pay 100% attention to your surroundings. You have to look and listen for cars, because as we all know we can't expect them to notice us. Listening to music takes away from your ability to hear cars, as well as your abilty to react fast. If you are actually listening to the music, your brain cannot process that cat that ran out in front of you as fast...because its too busy telling you to sing along.

In short... music = imminent death. Don't be a statistic.

Listen to your music on the trainer, or at the gym...but not on the street.

The origional question was whether you listended to music while riding or not and people gave there answers. If the origional poster didn't want to know then he wouldn't have asked.

The problem is when someone claims that someone else is being judgmental simply by expressing an alternative point of view to there own. THis is just human nature realy but I wish people would stop doing it.

Having the right to express your point of view means that you have to listen to someone elses point of view. If you don't like this fact then go live in a dictatorship.

OPPS! Maybe you do!

Regards, Anthony

ditto

Because the more conservative you are, the more you like to tell others how they should be living their lives.

There was a poll done about a month ago “do you listen to music when you ride”. Over half the people on this board voted yes, but most of the posts in the thread were from “conservs” complaining about others who listen to music. Seems like the “conservs” just like to complain about other people’s life decisions. Tell a conservative that you don’t wear a helmet and watch them lose it. Personally I could care less what others do as long as it doesn’t affect me.

I'm guessing you think deaf people shouldn't ride.



If we don't have to respect those who ride in a way that endangers people, does that mean I don't have to respect non-hemet-wearers? (If their bare head impacts my chest it will do more damage than if their helmeted head does, so they endanger me.)

Does it mean I don't have to respect those who don't use mirrors? (They can't see behind them without dangerously taking their eyes off their line.)

Do I not have to respect those who don't wear riding shorts? (They are constantly tugging at their butt to get the seams to stop chafing, meanwhile weaving all over the place.)

Do I not have to respect riders who still indulge the highly dangerous practice of using water bottles? (Hydration packs are not so easily dropped and run over, and do not require such contortions to access.)

Do I not have to respect riders with bikes that have shifters on the downtube? (Leaning way down to reach those shifters leads to weaving and balance problems when not in the drops.)

Obviously, the world works a lot better if I do respect these people by, for example, giving them the right of way when they have it, following the rules of the road when they are around, not flipping them the bird or spitting on them when they pass, and working to help them overcome their ignorance. People who decide instead to abandon respect for their fellows are called by special names (jerks, criminals, a waste of good flesh - just a few that I've heard) by the rest of polite society, who instead prefer to dislike certain practices apply appropriate social pressure to reform them.

I'm guessing the OP was driving at something along these lines. Zealots don't have a real basis for deciding where to start considering risk acceptable, and react out of all proportion when it is not.



I don't listen to music while riding, and I do not like distractions while riding at all. (Nor am I deaf, while we are at it.)

However, I doubt this hypothesis is really true. Neurological research seems to indicate that tasks of different character are processed by different areas of the brain, and that multiple regions of the brain can be simultaneously active. So there is some reason to doubt the assertion that listening to music or singing necessarily impedes motor skills. Obviously I'm unaware of any evidence to indicate that listening to music impedes obstacle recognition and reaction specifically. So call me skeptical - I think your hypothesized neurocognitive mechanism is far to simplistic, and also you offer no data, so I'm not willing to believe either way.

I do agree, however, that I get a great deal of sensory input from my ears that is relevant to the ride, and that I wouldn't want to hinder that. Hearing an overtaking rider or vehicle is valuable to me. (But if I'm listening for overtakers in lieu of music, does that mean I still can't process that cat as quickly?) I'm by no means comfortable around people who listen to music while riding, but this is from my gut; I'm equally not convinced that they pose a significant real risk for me when I get on the bike, compared to all the other dangerous practices I see out there. And I'm somewhat convinced that music zealots pose more danger to me by completely ignoring far more dangerous practices. So anyway, back to the scheduled flamefest....

A week ago I had the potential to ride head on into a cyclist going the wrong way on the road, at night. I'll grant him that he had a headlight, but would you like to guess the rest of the description of bike and cyclist?

As far as conservatives being uptite about safety issues...I can only speak for myself. Unfortunately our liberal citizens have ensured that people who make bad choices regarding safety will still receive medical attention regardless of whether they can afford to pay for it. I personally don't care if someone pops their own melon, but it pisses me off that I have to help pay for it. On the rare occasions that I ride MUP, I can scream "on your left" or my wife can ring her bell all day long, and the ones with earbuds never hear..then when she goes by on the far left of the trail, it startles them and they will often swerve into my path, or my kids' path if we're all riding together. They are endangering me and my kids as well. The reason there are laws on such matters is because too many people can't be left to their own devices to make a reasonable decision. While I'm sure that most of the people reading this forum that choose to listen to music probably do so at a volume that allows them to hear what they need to hear to be safe, I am also quite sure that most of the people riding out there don't. If I can tell what they are listening to, it's a problem.

I hate to hear that people would listen to music so loud that it would totally drown out the traffic surrounding them. I believe that music can be enjoyed at a safe audible level that doesn’t impede listening to other traffic. I can have audible conversations with other riders wile I’m listing to music and riding at the same time.

As I said, I believe the readers of this forum when they claim what you do, but that's not what I see the majority of bike riders doing. The people here on the forums have educated themselves regarding safety and risks, while the vast majority of people I see on bikes daily have not.

Just another Lib with there "I'm oh so with it" view of themselves.

"Unfortunately our liberal citizens have ensured that people who make bad choices regarding safety will still receive medical attention regardless of whether they can afford to pay for it."

Wow...what to say? As far as doctors helping people who are wheeled in the door, it's called the hippocratic oath, and basic humanity.

The initial post is on to something. Folks appear to care much too much about what others are thinking and doing.

Right on, Santa Ana......a Red county city...

Amen to that. I am mostly conservative, but listen to music when riding, I guess I am just different in that respect. I don't give others $hit for their choices either!!

I would agree with you about "conservs". There's plenty of those who think they are hollier than everyone else (which only makes me think they are feeling guilty about their own lives). But you also have the far left who want to tell you what kind of car to drive, how to throw away your trash, you have to wash your hands after using the bathroom...

The one argument FOR wearing a helmet is when a person cracks their head open on the pavement because they don't have a helmet, everyone else pays for keeping them in a vegetative state for the rest of their life. If you could just leave them there to bleed to death, then I would have no problem with them doing as they please. The same goes for seatbelts and motorcycle helmets.

I don't know. Every bonehead I've run into on the road trying to talk on the phone and drive at the same time seems to be FAR better at talking than driving while doing both at the same time. I believe there have been numerous studies and such that seem to lend some validity to this. Does the same hold true for listen to music and driving/riding? I don't know.

I don't know how this turned political and I don't know how you can acertain political affiliation from cycling posts ("most of the posts in the thread were from “conservs” complaining about others who listen to music").

However, I am judgemental when it comes to anything that affects my or other's safety for a couple of reasons. First and obviously, if your actions could hurt someone I have no problem being judgemental. I think headphones fit into this category. It is difficult enough to dodge all of the cars, trucks, dogs and bad roads without having distractions. Second, I don't like cyclists who give the rest of us a bad reputation on the roads. Inattentiveness will probably lead to mistakes such as taking a lane when not necessary, running a stop sign, etc. This creates more ill will from drivers toward cyclists and hurts us all in the end.

So again, I'll be judgemental when it comes to safety issues: wearing headphones, not wearing a helmut or not using lights at night. And you can think I'm a "conserv" (never heard that one, even after working for years in politics) and make all kinds of base generalizations about me. Life's wonderful, isn't it?

As for passing judgement based on bike brand, clothing, etc., that's just pathetic. I'm glad to see anyone out there cycling.

Hi again,

Wow,...didn't mean to start a flame-for-all,...and while I'm at it, something that I forgot to include in the intial post, along with riders showing a little more courtesy and respect for others who ride, is that individuals ride with common sense and take responsibility for how they ride and how that can affect others around them.

This wasn't posted to start a blue state/red state debate, but rather it was in response to some who seem to feel it's fine to look down their nose at those who ride using a triple, or assume someone's pretending to be a roadie just because they feel that riding with music on might be an unwelcome distraction while in traffic, or pass judgement on those who do,...or feel it's necessary to call a simple, honest question, "stupid", or whatever. By the way, I voted "no" on the listening to music while riding thread, but understand there are those who do just fine with it. Different strokes,...

Really, I don't care if you're a hammerhead pulling a line to the top of Mt. Everest or always gets dropped off the back, or Little Bo Peep just cruising along, enjoying being on a bike, and I'll say it again, listening to Metallica or Lawrence Welk, or the call of the wild for that matter,...as long as you're showing courtesy for others who may not look or ride like you, aaaaaaaaaand as long as you're taking responsibility for the way you ride, can't there at least be a majority that agrees that we're all doing the same thing, and that's enjoying one of the best things there is,...riding a bike?

Just trying to see the forest for the trees,...honest.

Thanks for your time.

I too am somewhat confused as to what someones political affiliation has to do with any of this, and where the term "conservs" came from. I've lived around D.C. for a long time, and I've never heard of that term.

So I'm guessing that those of you that are against listening to music, don't chew gum when you ride and don't get a drink out of your water bottle? All of these things could be a distraction. And I'm absolutely sure that you don't listen to the radio in the car, engage in conversation, or talk on the cell phone? Yeah right!

Ambiant music at a low volume in the background is less of a distraction than most of those things I have listed.

Truth is many of you do like to pass judgement and it is YOU that are contributing to the cyclists reputation. I've been on this board for less than 2 weeks and a good many of you have confirmed my long standing opinion of "roadies". Many are friendly good people, but some of you are unreal! Judge not for you my friend are also being judged!

The problem lies with grouping everybody who listens to music into one group. You have the people who listen to music so loud they block out their total surroundings. Then you have the people who listen to music at a level to where you can still hear what is going. Two totally separate situations. Period.

And the argument about paying higher taxes because idiots rack up high hospital bills is just plain ridiculous. Trust me, I work in the medical field and I know that it’s not people injured from not wearing seatbelts and listening to music on a bike that is racking up the tax bills. It’s more like illegal aliens coming over the border to have kids so they will qualify for medicaid. I’m sure most people would freak if they knew how much WE pay for illegal aliens hospital bills.