Originally Posted by
Hypno Toad
I know you know this, some people do listen to music too loud while biking, jogging, walking to hear others around them - EVERYONE in this tread agrees that this is a bad idea.
Originally Posted by
Oneder
Not true, several have said they think hearing is pointless and they can't hear anything anyway. Pretty sure people hear me regardless because I get nitwits complaining for announcing my presence so that they will move tf over but many of them would not hear me if I didn't use my outside voice of if I had an average voice.
I don't know of a post that says hearing is pointless - please quote post or posts.
My point (bold-underline for emphasis), I don't know of any posts in this thread suggesting listening to music so loud that you can't hear your surrounds is a good idea.
There are many times I can't hear while riding, most often it's wind noise from descending or headwinds. At times like this, I count on my Garmin Varia radar to alert me to approaching traffic; others like to use a mirror. Either way, hearing is not the end-all and be-all to safety while biking and music is not the only thing that limits your hearing - I've seen this point made many times, but that is completely different than saying hearing is 'pointless'.
I will be as clear as possible on my positions:
- Listen to music, or other audio, while riding is safe on the condition that you can hear your surroundings. There are many posts about options for doing this - I'm a fan of right only earbud with low volume.
- Listening to music, or other audio, too loud to hear your surrounds is a bad idea for you and others around you. I will get loud and pissed off when I encounter a trail user that can't hear my bell/voice when passing because their music is too loud. It is a frequent issue, and is usually frustrating.
- This is not a binary topic, there are many options to safely/responsibly listen to audio while riding.