One of my favorite things about cycling is really being outside — and hearing all the wonderful and crazy sounds is part of that. The birds chirping, the cars in the distance, the planes over head. Even in the city, for me it’s just part of cycling. Of course, I don’t go on really long rides, so maybe I would feel differently. (And I think the bike-speaker thing is cool, as long as you keep the volume reasonable).
Running is a different story. Maybe because I’m slow and gasping for breathe, but I don’t hear the glorious sounds of nature/the city when I’m running. I just hear my heart saying “I’m working really hard”, my feet saying “pound, pound, pound” and my knees/hips saying “ow, ow, ow”. (Ok, it’s not that bad, but I do mostly hear my own breathe and my feet hitting the pavement). So music is a welcome distraction. I do keep in both earbuds, but I make sure the volume is pretty low.
As someone who uses headphones to listed to podcasts and audio books to multi task when doing monotonous tasks like working out, lawn work, driving by myself, etc I was very tempted to use them when I started communting on my bike. I can see how it could be done, but never on streets. I’m going to stick to the sounds of nature and my own thoughts for now.
There has been many comments about walkers/runners who can’t hear a cyclist’s pass call. I think this and other reasons are why we all should have bells. With their higher pitch sounds, they are more likely to be heard. Also, pedestrians are likely not to know what to do when some one yell, “Pass on your left,” possibly mumbled. Even though they may not know what to do, a bike bell is easier to quickly realize that its a bike, not just some person on the trail yelling at you.
I wear them about 2/3 of the time (often with one ear out), but I don’t find they distract me as I have the volume set fairly low. On 14th Street Bridge, by the airport, and on the MVT stretches that run almost on top of GWP it, they don’t matter at all as you can’t hear a thing. Plus I know if I can hear myself calling a pass with headphones in then I have presumably called loud enough.
I’m honestly more worried about the idiots passing me or passing someone else coming right at me around blind turns. It’s happened twice in last two weeks on MVT. And they weren’t touristy or folks out for a rec ride, they were experienced lycra-clad cyclists. C’est le vie.
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