wolfchild

I use both of my ears and also a mirror to keep track of what's happening behind me, there is nothing wrong with what I am doing.. There is also nothing wrong in glancing back over your shoulder to keep track of what's happening behind you, I do that all the time if riding a bike without a mirror...You call it paranoia, I call it situational awareness.

mstateglfr 

All that sounds quite great.
I look back at times too, mostly when riding gravel since I take lines that aren't just on the right side of the road. Also when pulling up to stop lights, I look back to see where I should position myself in the right lane.

Miele Man

Those who wear earbuds whilst riding will continue to do so since they see/hear no danger in doing so. Nothing will convince them not to.

Cheers

DrIsotope

I did a 5-minute experiment today, during the last two miles of my ride. There's a stretch of two-lane that crosses the Santa Ana River basin, and about half of it is shoulderless. I've ridden it a thousand times-- probably more. The posted speed limit is 50mph, and unless the school traffic is heavy (and there's no school traffic at all right now,) cars are doing 50-60mph. So I popped the earbuds out, and listened for approaching cars.

I average ~22mph through that section pretty consistently, so the closing speed of cars is 30-35mph, which is ~50 feet/sec. The Varia would give me the beeps when it would pick up a vehicle, and then I would really listen-- even to the point of turning my head slightly to the left so as to "aim" my ear toward the oncoming cars. When I could discern the sound of engine or tires, I would turn and look at how far back the car actually was. It was always 2-3 carlengths, or 50-60ft. So... roughly 1 second. Mind you, the greater the difference between relative speeds, the less time there is to "do anything." I'm frankly not to worried about approaching vehicles doing less than 2x my speed. F = m * a, after all.

All the posters in this thread who have that super hearing, they must be able to pick those cars up way, way, waaaaaay earlier. Or they're just going waaaaaay slower than I am. Because I can't do much with that one second. If that car is gonna hit me, it's gonna hit me-- whether I hear it or not.

Oh, and LSOTR?

GlennR

Nothing is gonna save you with cars going that fast. I hope there's a WIDE shoulder or else you have a death wish.

I avoid roads like that and try to minimize multi lean roads.

lykbutta

I am a n00b cycler and had my powerbeat pros on. I just couldn’t wear them on the path anymore. Too much going on. I researched and bought a JBL CLIP 3. love it. I can get my music and be alert to the road.

Oneder

If you really only hear cars from 2-3 car lengths away then you have seriously blown out your ears already.

If a car comes up at 60 mph in the bike lane/shoulder it will probably hit you, but your ears will save you from the hundreds and hundreds of times where some idiot is hooking a right and trying to go right through you.

Since you seem to go on back country roads that probably doesn't apply as much but that is going to be more dangerous overall even than the million cars on the road here.

DrIsotope

I think it's more likely that the faster I go, the less able I am to hear anything. Wind noise is generally measured as 85DbA @ 15mph, but wind noise doubles with a 50% increase in speed, so I'm dealing with ~88DbA @ 22mph.


Cars and trucks are in the 75-85DbA range, so they're simply quieter than the wind. I can't hear the cars because I can only hear the wind. Which is exactly what I've been saying the entire time.

wolfchild

The same can be said for those who choose not to listen to music while riding...Nothing and nobody will convince me to start listening to music while riding or exercising.

Paul Barnard

Another benefit of the over the shoulder check is that it lets the motorist know you know they are there. If I am approaching a blind bend and want to discourage a pass, a glance over my shoulder and hold a finger up as if to say "just a second." When all is clear, I wave them around, slide over and give a friendly wave as they pass. It seems to facilitate a more pleasant interaction.

I have cycling safety discussions all over social media and in person as well. A common complaint is that cyclists don't even know or care that motorists are behind them. "Had ear buds in, didn't even know I was there." I recognize that may not be the truth, but when you compare that motorist's experience and the motorist's experience when they deal with someone who does what I do, which motorist leaves that encounter with a more favorable view of the cyclist? People with more favorable views of cyclists will be more likely to have safe and pleasant interactions with them in the future.

MattTheHat 

Hundreds and hundreds of times? I’ve *never* had someone try to turn right through me. Never. I’ve had a couple who passed closer than I would have done and then turn right, but nothing so close that I had to brake even brake. Perhaps this is due to riding with a blinking rear light.

For me, riding without a blinking rear light is far, far more dangerous than biking while wearing ear buds.

MattTheHat 

Nobody is trying to convince you to start listening to music while riding. Literally nobody in this thread is doing that!

Hypno Toad

wait, wait, wait ... what??

with a rear light is dangerous? did you mean "without"?

MattTheHat 

Yep, I meant without a rear light. I’ll go edit.

Oneder

You are missing close calls because you have your head phones blaring, you are living with a false sense of scurity. You are alive mainly because you live in the middle of nowhere, you would already have been hit or nearly hit many times if you lived in a more busy area. You will probably change your tune at that point lol

Oneder

When there are no pedestrians or bikes around I go 40-50 on the way home from my rides because it's all downhill and have no trouble hearing.

DrIsotope

The entirely of that post is what we in the industry call "nonsense," unless you're using kilometers as a unit of measurement. Having descended at 50mph, you cannot hear anything-- it's like having a hair dryer pointed into each ear.

Further, there's absolutely zero worry about approaching vehicles at 50mph, you just ride smack dab in the middle of the lane, as you're going as fast as the cars.

I feel like I'm really missing out by not having these super ears that defy all physical law.

Oneder

There's a simple explanation that your ears are already shot. Many people's are. One more reason to be careful listening to loud music. Cars make noise in many ranges anyway because there are vibrations, engine noises, wind against fenders and so on.

CAT7RDR

FWIW, I ride in the canyons and mountains a lot. I am able to hear approaching vehicles coming for roughly up to 10 seconds. There is plenty of time to make adjustments when ascending. Descending is another matter. Cars/motorcycles will be on my ass fast with maybe a second warning. Wind noise is a factor as well as my focus being on the road ahead for hazards.

Besides noise, my concern is target fixation where the speeding motorcyclist steers into me from behind. That would be a bad day. Fast fwd to 2:40 in the linked video to see an example of target fixation:

DrIsotope

Firstly, that's not how sound works. If there is a 90DbA sound at point blank range (that is, wind into your ear holes) you cannot hear a 90DbA sound being generated at a distance. The strongest pressure wave wins.

Second, if my hearing is already "shot," what difference does it make that I wear headphones? Can't hear the cars anyway. Still manage to put in 10,000 miles a year... and I live on still.

MattTheHat 

Your arguments are getting weirder and weirder. Firstly, I don't blare music. Never said I did. How would I miss a close call because I'm listening to music, even if it were blaring. I'd see the car pass right beside me, right?

The Dallas, Fort Worth Metroplex is not in the middle on nowhere, I can assure you. It ain't New York city, I'll grant you that. But I've been passed by at least 25,000 cars in the past year alone, and that's a conservative estimate.

GlennR

Depends how fast you and the car are going.You have a lot less time at 20mph than at 12mph.

Just saying.

BTW.. what type of music do you listen to?

Lately i've been streaming Grateful Dead concerts from Youtube. 3+ hours of great music and since the Dead recorded all of their concerts, there are hundreds from the mid 60s until now.

Oneder

He doesn't get it, he is hopeless. No one is expecting to avoid a car barreling in on them at 70mph, however you can avoid be run over by cars turning off the highway onto the shoulder or cars right hooking you at an intersection or driveay. There is zero chance these things have never happened to the guy, he was just totally oblivious to the impending death he was lucky to avoid.

MattTheHat 

I don't ride my bicycle on the highway. I can assure you I'm not oblivious and if death were impeding all those times, well, certainly I'd be...dead.

Once the car passes me, hearing has nothing to do with anything. I CAN SEE THE CAR! And I can try to react.

Here's a clue...cars don't want to hit you. They really, really don't. Many driver have kids who ride bikes, many drivers have friends who cycle and many drivers are cyclist themselves. Even if none of those things happen to be true for a given driver they still don't want to hit you! Even if they're a total psychopath, they still don't want to hit you because it will screw up their car, and there may be legal complications.

If you deal with so many cars cutting you off and pulling over on you, why do you continue to cycle on the road? That doesn't seem smart.

MattTheHat 

A lot of different stuff. Let me think...from my ride this morning we had:

Conquests - White Stripes
Solid Gold-Plated Fool - Jo El Sonnier
Back in the USSR - Beatles
We Learned to Be Cool From You - Jimmy Buffett
Understanding - Bob Seger
After the Hurricane - BR-549
A Long December - Counting Crows
Young Lust - Pink Floyd
Now That the Magic Has Gone - Joe Cocker
Black Water - Watermelon Slim & The Workers
Miracles - Jefferson Starship
D'yer Mak'er - Led Zeppelin

I don't remember what played before those.