I know all cyclists aren’t with me on this one, but I like having my iPod with me while I’m riding….and the way in which I do it is totally safe in my opinion.  I’m a road cyclist and am not in situations where I’m surrounded by pedestrians or riding along with slow traffic.  Situations like these where it’s important to hear all that is happening around you is not a great scenario for listening to music while on your bike….but if done right, can still be okay.

Oh, and I’ll get into it more at the bottom of this article, but I’m going out there as saying that the wind noise we can experience out there while road cycling is much louder and distracting than music at the levels I listen to it at.

This isn’t the first time I’ve posted about riding with music and I’m doing it again because this is one subject that I have more than a few things to say.  In fact, it sort of burns me up a little.  Every day I see people on cell phones while driving their cars and I see how un-focused and un-safe they are while doing so.  That’s a subject that I plan on posting more about soon, but to me that is like a bazillion times more dangerous than cycling with earphones.

One Ear Headphones

There are quite a few states that ban the use of headphones while cycling and I posted about that in the past as well.  In some states (I believe – California, Delaware and Maryland), they’ve partially banned it by only allowing the use of earphones in one ear.  I can live with that law and in places like this, the products from our friends over at Far End Gear are exactly what you need.  Their custom-designed earphones mix both channels of sound from your audio device into one single ear….so you get good sound and have one ear totally open to the sounds of the road.  I actually recommend these earphones to all cyclists, even if it’s not the law where you’re located.  (note: One Good Earbud was a self-funded company that successfully grew into what is now called Far End Gear and have introduced new product lines along the way).

Watch for another post about Far End Gear later on this Summer as we promote the launch of their new product, Brite Buds.  Brite Buds are earphones with reflective material embedded in their fabric wrapped cords and we’ll be doing a giveaway as well.

One Small Rant

Okay, I mentioned earlier that the idea of banning the use of earphone while cycling sort of burns me up. Well, I’m not much of an argumentative kind of guy and I know there are people on both sides of this one, but here is one point that I’d like to make that totally justifies my use of headphones while cycling.  There are many times when I’m riding along and the wind is blowing so loud in my ears that I can’t even hear the music through my earphones.  What this tells me is that in situations like this my hearing is way more distorted than at any time I am listening to music.  If there is going to be laws against cycling with headphones, then I guess they’re going to have to ban us from cycling in strong winds as well.  Yeah, right.

Let’s hear what you have to say on this subject.  The topic created quite a debate the last time we posted on it, so let it rip.

Photo c/o www.ironman.com

No I have not gone bonkers and taken up Rhythmic BMX Dance for London 2012. Nor have I been practicing my fixie-hops from the film ‘Quicksilver’ (although I have added the video to the end of this post as an extra special treat!) I want to disclose a personal secret to you all today. Something that (I don’t think) anyone else knows about me. My Recovery Dance.

Before we get started let me pop that bubble of hilarity in your brain that thinks I perform some sort of voodoo Maltodextrin dance when I get home from a ride to ensure my body is ready for the next journey through the pain cave. This is a wholly more enjoyable kind of pastime that has become a part of my daily commute and something that I look forward to. You see, roughly half way along my journey to work there is a descent. It’s not Alpinically steep or rangey and there is no need for me to stuff the local newspaper down my jersey, but it comes at just the right point in the ride to spur me on. And it does have a lovely view over the sea most of the way down and heads to a dead-end for cars so there is little to no traffic. After a fast ride through a town high-street and up a naughty little climb that has become my Strava nemesis this descent feels like a treat. Not relaxation. Not a rest. Not easy. But a treat.

Sometimes I turn the bike up to 11 and hammer it down the slope. Sometimes I zig-zag from edge to edge. Sometimes I free-wheel with no hands punching the air. All because nobody can see me. To add extra spice to something already nice, I regularly get treated to some absolute corkers through my iPod [Ed: other fruit based music makers are available]. My old, bashed up iPod seems to know the exact point I’m entering ‘The Dance Zone’ and skips to something wonderful. Whether it’s a tune from my youth, an old classic or something a bit more off the wall. They always seem to suit my mood and then enhance it.

That descent always spurs me on for the next couple of Strava segments (it’s an addiction don’t you know!?) and I arrive at work ready for the world. Knowing that I had this article in me I’ve kept a record of the songs that have played along that descent over the last couple of weeks. Below are a few of the absolute best. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

…and the ‘Quicksilver’ bike dance… get practicing!

and now especially for Malachi and to show the rest of the world how we do Hip Hop here in the UK… Professor Elemental…

KTRSD

Stevie

I really can’t figure this one out, and I need your help with something.  As you know, I’m cycling Florida for a few weeks.  Now, I’ve cycled in very hot and humid conditions and all sort of weather that is similar to that of Florida….but each ride I’ve taken here, something very strange has happened.  I don’t mean to gross you out but around the 30 minute mark of each ride, I start getting beads of sweat rolling off my face and into my eardrums….thereby knocking out the sound from my ear bud.  And as I mentioned yesterday, you know how I like riding with my iPod.

I can’t figure it out….I’ve never had something like this happen to me before.  It was happening on each and every ride and was driving me crazy up until I outsmarted it.  I found an old cloth in the house that we’re staying at and turned it into my headband.  It’s fixed the problem, but I’m still baffled as to why my face picked right now to start sweating and dripping into my ears.

If you have the answer, please let me know.

While searching for a picture to go along with this post, I came across this interesting product.  It’s called SlipStreamz and it’s purpose is to decrease the wind noise while out riding and allow you to easily hear sounds and listen to your iPod.  Looks to me like it might also prevent the sweat from getting in there as well.

There is no shortage of blog posts, Twitter threads, and Linkedin comments talking about cycling with your iPod….but I wanted to join in on this one for a minute.  I’ve been listening to music while biking ever since I got my first mp4 player six months after becoming a road cyclist.  The first day I wore it, I cycled both directions of the St. Kitts Peninsula…..a feat I hadn’t attempted up until then. Right then and there, I realized that having the music with me was going to do good things for my cycling.

Since that day, there’s only been a few times that I’ve cycled music-less over these past six years. Whether I’m letting the rock and rap beats help pedal me forward, or singing along to Bob Marley when I’m out in the middle of nowhere on a long ride….I’ve got the music in me.

How about you?