Solo Riding - Music/Radio ?
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I listen to music and sometimes with training plan timings too. There is an argument that you have less awareness, but this is an argument not to ban headphones, but fit bikes with rear view mirrors.
to be honest you shouldn't be relying on your hearing to alert you to what is behind you. You should be performing regular checks.
Any motorcyclist who does not wear plugs will probably lose a fair chunk of their hearing anyway. wind noise above about 40mph will cause damage to your hearing despite wearing a helmet. I wonder if the speed for cyclists is lower given we have less protection from the wind noise.0 -
Whenever I am on a solo ride I will listen to music/podcasts 90% of the time.
Left earbud in at low volume does not make the smallest bit of difference to your perception of what's going on.0 -
There some iphone apps that might be worth a try.. I might give the free Noize one a go - it appears you can set it to turn down the volume if it picks up background noise.0
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This "awareness" thing? Shirley, all you will hear, if you're about to be run over, is a car approaching. Same as when it's not going to run you over.
Don't wear 'em myself, but I'm not convinced that it's dangerous, particularly (I suppose the judicial system might give a driver a break if you are wearing 'phones in an incident).0 -
It's often as vocal as the helmet debate but personally when out training I put one earbud in (left side) and put on some playlists to distract my mind from the pain. I can hear cars long before I can see them and I find it has the added effect of making it seem less windy (no wind howling in both ears).0
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I'm a bit older than you and love cycling in the country alone, but I've never felt the need to listen to music while cycling.Zak3737 wrote:"There is some ageist crap on here about the over 50's not pushing themselves"
Hey, if anyone over 50 wants to thrash themselves to bits and get incredibly fit, thats up to them, but, statistically, it comes with a greater risk than when you were 2 decades younger I'm afraid.
I'm 53 on Sat, and have had some issues with Atrial Fibrilation, or irregular Heartbeat, altho currently, it seems mainly alcohol that brings that on. My ol' man has had 3 Heart Bypasses over the years too, so in my humble opinion, for me to start pushing things and upping heartbeat to very high levels just isnt sensible.
I can do longish rides, currently 40-50 miles, at a reasonable pace, (thats only 15mph averages), and with occasional bursts of 'enthusiasm', but you ask me to push it up a hill and thats where I lose interest, and spin.
I do have a buddie, who's 65 this year, and is these days doing Iron Man's, at circa 12hrs, and is one of the top of his age group nationally I believe, but he's been a manic exerciser for years, and years......its obcessive.
yes its possible, but that, I aint gonna be.
If you're worried about overdoing it, you could get a heart rate monitor so you can ensure you heart rate isn't getting too high. If it is getting high just slow down a bit. Having something like a Garmin and heart rate monitor can motivate you to push yourself a bit more, without overdoing it, and maybe stop you getting bored.0 -
apreading wrote:Do you not have music in your head anyway? It might be just me but whenever I am out cycling there is a beat or a song going through my head, even if I dont always realise it. And my cadence is guided by that song. The big advantage of it being in my head is that I can also vary the speed of the song to suit the cadence I want. Sometimes the song in my head is strange and potentially embarassing but there is always something going on up there!
Out in the country, I do occasionally use earphones though, and I can still hear stuff around me and 'sense' stuff around me though. I actually have more of a problem with 'false positives' where I think someone is behind but find its just the wind than I do with not hearing anything. I do spend much more time looking around and checking just in case though. I think ultimately I am ever so slightly less safe with the earphones in but by only doing it in situations where there is more margin and by compensating in other ways, I dont think its a significant problem. I would never do it around a busy town though.
i know exactly what you mean i cant get music out my head as i peddle unfortunatly alot of the time its a kids program theme tune as i spend a fair bit of time sat with me kids and watching what they want lol!0 -
I have strong feelings about wearing headphones, and most of them have already been covered in this thread. I wear them 100% of the time, always at full volume, as music is a massive motivator for me and an essential tool for training. The only time I don't use them is club runs and TT's.
Hearing may be important, but you can't hear the direction or approach of a vehicle behind you, so it makes no difference. If someone is going to drive into you from behind ( which incidentally happens accounts for around 2% of cycle accidents and is very rare) it is your eyes and all round observations that will be your key to avoidance, not the minor sound of an engine approaching. Hence, continual shoulder checks, situational awareness and a sound idea of your surroundings at all times is your most crucial discipline.
And absolutely like a motorcycle, their sense of hearing is hugely diminshed. For work I ride a motorcycle with in ear communications inside a helmet, I have no audio information at all and manage to negotiate London without any issues.
Your eyes and experience coupled with sound judgement is all you need.0 -
Thx all, some interesting viewpoints.
I tried the '1 earpiece in' approach on friday, and found it more than adequate, and very good in all honesty.
Not sure I'd ever ride with both in though, some of the country lanes and roads I ride on are really only single lane, and if a Car is behind me, I'd like to detect is before he forces his way past and scares the hell outa me if I didnt know he was there.
Looks like I dont need the Handlebar Speakers after all..... ;-)0 -
mikpem wrote:I agree, headphones/earphones should be banned on the bike, the number of people that jump as I pass them because they are oblivious to what's going on around them because their ears are blocked!
trust me I always jump when people pass me,and I dont wear headphones, its usually because they are passing alot closer than they need to :roll:
I did come across someone last year listening to the cricket on a radio theyd strapped to their bike, that confused me because I could hear talking and was expecting to encounter a group of runners round the next corner.0 -
Zak3737 wrote:some of the country lanes and roads I ride on are really only single lane, and if a Car is behind me, I'd like to detect is before he forces his way past and scares the hell outa me if I didnt know he was there.
Take a cycling proficiency test or buy a rear view mirror then.I'm sorry you don't believe in miracles0 -
I listen to radio all the time. Not music just those talk radio stations. It doesn't block out background noise.
A lot of new cars are very silent and you won't hear them creep up anyway especially when it's windy. The wind noise is much worse than the earphones.
You just need to swing your head around and look where you're going. It will also let traffic around you know you're about to change position.0 -
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I brought this issue up years ago and got a right talking to from some people. I suggested a bike mounted MP3 player with a speaker just in case you need some entertainment and obviously don't want to loose your ability to hear traffic.
I thought Alan Michael Sugar would be just the guy to bring it to the market due to his love of cycling and experience of dodgy hi-fi systems.
Since then I have seen a few people riding about with mini music systems attached to their handlebars.0
