Live in the present and enjoy what you are doing. If you're actually "listening" to the music then you're not working hard enough.

I bet 90% of the people who ride with music can't name the last song played.

Feels definitely dangerous to me on the road, but also on the dirt if I'm doing anything even slightly technical that requires mental clarity. I'm just not 100% in bike zen mind if there's music playing in my head. And even out in the woods, I still like to hear what's going on around me--just seems way safer. As for others, I don't care what they do as long as they don't endanger me, or, use a speaker and force me to listen to their music out there!

I listen to music while riding with my Blu tooth speaker attached to the frame. It allows me to enjoy music and be able to hear my surroundings at the same time. Also in some states, it's against the law to have headsets while riding on your bike. I avoid wearing earbuds because my right ear is screwed up and I need to save both ears for as long as I'm around (too much loud music in my younger days).

I'm surprised only one other person has mentioned it, but if you want to listen to your music AND hear everything around you, get bone conduction headphones like Aftershockz Titanium. They really are a game changer. Lots of people on the local group rides use them. Not only can you hear your surroundings, but you can also easily pause your music or take a phone call with a press of a single button on the headphones.

I have a portable speaker that has Blueteeth and they connect with the blueteeth on my cellular telephone and play music from there when I need it. It is nice because it gives others awareness of you so you can ride without having to yell at people. However I don't ride with a speaker every ride and sometimes just want to ride and hear my surroundings with full clarity.

I have heard decent things about the bone conductive headphones but haven't really tried them yet.

iPod Pro with transparency mode on. Also have Varia radar to point out when vehicle approaches.

Regardless of whether you're using bone conducting headphones, or earbuds with outdoor/transparency/ambient/whatever-they-call-it mode, the most important thing to control is listening volume. I can blast my Aftershokz Aeropex loud enough to be unsafe on the road, or I can moderate the volume so that I am still able to carry out a normal conversation with the rider beside me.

I use a bluetooth speaker also. JBL Clip 3, it helps to let others know that I am nearby on the bike path also.

i use Aftershokz. They are use bone induction bluetooth, so there is nothing stuck in your ear. I can hear cars, birds and frogs!

I listen to podcasts with one (usually the right) earbud in. It’s no different than listening to the car radio with the driver’s window open.

Difference is in a collision with another car you have a seat belt, air bags and 3000# of metal surrounding you. On a bike you have spandex and 15# of carbon fiber.

But to each their own.

Everyone evaluates their own safety such as people riding wearing masks and not helmets (but that's a whole different topic)(.

I pulled into the driveway yesterday to Cha Cha Cha by MC Lyte.

Earbuds in (with Comply foam tips) for every solo ride, regardless of where I'm going. Off road, on-road, urban, suburban, doesn't matter. So like... 30,000 miles. Probably 1,700-1,800 hours over the past 3.5 years.
As I've said what feels like a hundred times, a road cyclist doesn't use their hearing nearly as much as internet cyclists think they do. At my cruising speed, what I hear without headphones is whhhhoooosssshhhhh.

I only feel comfortable using earbuds on MUPs; where I live the drivers are the worst I've ever witnessed and it's definitely not worth the risk. I am very cautious when crossing roads or passing pedestrians though so I feel like I do my duty to stay safe.

To those asking why people feel the need to listen to music; I just love music period and almost always am I in the mood for some tunes. There's so much good music out there and not nearly enough time to listen to it all. I constantly have a song stuck in my head anyway so I might as well listen to something as to not have the same line of whichever song on repeat in my head indefinitely.

The headphones are to drown out the laughing when people find out that somebody is paying someone else to play disc golf. ;)

(sorry - couldn't resist...)


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https://api.pdga.com/tour/events

I bet 90 percent of people who complain about "others" using earbuds have never tried it.
Actually to the uninitiated it can seem over whelming when you first try it especially if you have it cranked up loud. I know because that's how I felt when I first tried running with them. Weirdly, I rode with them for years, but the first time running I couldn't stand it. I finally tried again decades later and now I like it.
Where I ride I feel comfortable riding with earbuds. But when riding Sundays with my wife and me pulling our daughter in a trailer buggy on our MUP/Riverwalk, I don't.
I train/ride by myself 90 percent of the time and I use my Triathlon setup bikes the other times I ride with a friend and I use a rode bike with rode bars and no earbuds.
I find it odd that those who don't wear earbuds condemn those who do. But I guess they feel unsafe by those or had a bad experience with a earbud rider. My suggestion is take it up with them and get your anger out them not here. But I guess that's the internet way. Listen just because one person does a jackass move while wearing earbuds doesn't make them all that way. You'll find just as many non earbud wearing jackasses too.
Finally, one tip I've learned is Only Listen to Good Music.

Like DrIsotope said, when riding at any pace, you don't hear a car from behind ... there's too much wind noise. I ride with a Garmin Varia and know when a car is behind me, it alerts me with a chime and graphic on my Edge 1030 - much better than counting on the approaching car being loud enough to hear over the wind noise.

With music in one ear and the volume low enough to talk to someone at a stop light, you're not hurting your ability to hear your surroundings.

Nobody is saying you should ride with music, you do you. But the OP asked about doing it safely and you have some of riders with significant experience riding with music sharing how we do it safely. (FYI - I log 5,000 to 6,500 miles each year, year round in Minnesota, on roads, trails, gravel, single-track, on snow/ice ... and 95% of that is with music in my right ear).

Lastly, we all see a lot of people biking, running & walking that clearly can't hear a thing over their music ... I think we can all agree, don't do that!

I've ridden 25,000 on my current 2015 bicycle and most likely did another 10,000 since 2011 when I started riding again. So if you're equating a "keyboard commando" to ":internet cyclist", don't ASSume you know who you're talking about.

I would say if you ride where you rarely encounter any other cyclists, walkers, runners or cars... then blast you music. But if you ride on suburban roads with cars, trucks, business districts with parked cars and single lanes.... you need 100% attention on what your are doing.

Like i said, i bet you can't remember the last song played when cycling, so it's just background noise.

You must live in tornado alley, because i can hear cars coming up from behind and will move to the right... if i can.

Here's how

:lol:

No, I'm just that fast :thumb:

Everyone's ears are unique, I've bought Cat-Ears for Lisa cause she couldn't hear me talk with her at 12 mph on a quiet trail - they made a huge difference. OTOH - I can talk with teammates in a pace line at 20 mph; but hear a car approaching, nope. That's why I ride with the Garmin radar, much better than counting on loud cars and low wind noise.

I would think in Minnesota there's a large number of SUVs and pickup trucks and they generally have noisy tires.

Ever drive next to one on the highway and hear the loud whine from the tires?

I can hear them coming down the road, i'm just surprised that you can't but you can hear others talking while spinning at 20mph.

That is one option, and no one is advising against that option.

Because I do ultra endurance rides, and reviews cause concern about bone induction headphones comfort over long duration, I've stuck with a simple earbud in one ear. I am a data point of one, but with thousands of miles every year, I'm going to say that this is one safe option.

You don't like music while riding, I think we all understand your opinion. And some others are share our opinions and experiences riding with music. Cool? Cool!

You ever been here? We only drive Tesla, Prius, .... :rolleyes: Of course some cars and SUVs are loud and you hear them from 10 miles away. And some cars are not loud ... and to beat this dead horse: I'm not going to make my safety dependent on the quietly approaching Tesla is not trusting auto-drive.

:deadhorse:

So if I listen to music, I'm not working hard enough? Try selling that to professional athletes. You, Sir, have not fuc**ng clue.