Frequency differences matter, so this isn't as neat a relationship as that.

I can very distinctly hear car tire noise while riding at 23 mph. I tested that again just last evening. It's at a very different frequency than the wind noise.

What's hilarious about this topic is we all have different strategies based on our riding habits, environment and perceptual strengths/weaknesses, and this always degenerates into people trying to prove that their's is the only rational way.

BTW, because of reaction times, an additional second of warning is actually quite valuable.

You argument would carry more weight if you used the correct scientific/engineering units. (It's dBA or dBa, not DbA.)


Actually, it doesn't matter if you use the correct units – this statement is simply false.

It may not make any difference at that point but I am not begging you personally to take them off by any means. But like the guy in another thread saying no one needs to wear a mask due to the virus having the wrong info out there can cause problems. I don't wear mask any more because I already had it but I am literally the only person I've seen on a bike wearing one. I'd hate for it to be common knowledge that you don't need to hear as you ride as that could get people killed.

I just got back from 10 mile ride next to the freeway. The freeway was 100 yards away from the trail but I can still hear cars at least 200 yards back from my position. I also had cars pass me on side streets and could here them all the way from one light to the next. I can hear the engine, hear the air around them even hear the TIRES for god's sake. That's a quarter mile away. You are definitely either impaired or not reporting or testing accurately here somehow.

I'm late to the party and I have only read the thread title but I would never listen to music while riding a bicycle. I rely on my hearing for approaching cars, etc.

Of all of the big fish claims I've read on this website, that one pretty much takes the cake. This trumps the daily 40-50mph descents by a long shot. Hearing an approaching car from 600+ feet despite other ambient sound? There's an intersection less than 100 yards from where I'm sitting, and I can't hear every car taking off from it on a quiet residential street. At a quarter mile? Unless we're down at the track or someone is really romping on it, an individual car is (usually) inaudible at that distance. I can hear the Mustang driving jerkbag that takes off from every intersection like he's at the Pomona Dragway from a mile away-- literally. But none of that has anything to do with what's going on here.

Cycling is not a pursuit that is limited by a rider's ability to hear. A person with absolutely perfect hearing has no real advantage over someone with poor, or even no hearing. We're not fighter pilots-- we don't need 20/10 vision and otherworldly reflexes. That's just a fact, because I am not extraordinary in any way. Don't need to be. Riding a bike isn't that difficult. Some people seem to choose to make it seem more difficult than it actuallly is.

I would definitely say not safe you need to hear your surroundings even if on mud track

On the multiuse trail it probably is better manners to not use headphones. And it generally is lower noise and more nature so you want more exposure there.

On roadways, I do everything I can to block out the noise of internal combustion engines.

I just saw on the news that 13 sailors that had already had the virus on the USS Roosevelt have just tested positive for a second time. But then a mask isn't to protect the wearer so much as those around the wearer.
I just had an idea, why doesn't someone set up a poll for whether to wear a mask or not? And then another poll for whether to stay home or go out in public. Or would such polls be too political? :fight:

Thread has run its course. Closed.