siclmn

Exactly, like on a group ride with the Cascade Bicycle Club of Seattle there will always be a loud voiced woman screaming "car back" for the whole 50 mile ride. What will you differently? I have no idea. I have asked riders what this yelling service accomplishes and nobody has ever given a good reason. The leader will always tell the screaming woman that he appreciates her help because he is busy yelling out things as he rides too. My bliss is when I ride by myself with my music, just a totally enjoyable experience. I don't need riding instructions.

CAT7RDR

^^^^^^ Nothing definitive, as this was an internet survey but it has some talking points.
https://road.cc/content/news/236335-...s-crucial-safe

wolfchild

Listening to music while riding is a distraction which makes you less aware of your surroundings...Another reason why I don't listen to music is because it takes all the fun and pleasure out of cycling....When I am outdoors I rather listen to the sounds of traffic, the sounds of nature and the sounds of the world around me than be distracted by some silly music....Sure music has its place in life but riding a bike or exercising is not the place for it.

Retfor

Didn't read the whole thread, too long for that, but my two cents is that it greatly depends on the headphones. For headphones intended to block sound, like the in-ear earbuds, I would agree that it's dangerous to wear two while riding. I don't like those, anyway, tho. I like the old style of earbuds that don't block much sound. I ride all the time wearing those, and I don't feel it's unsafe at all. I can hear the important things just fine, even the sound of a car's tires on ground as it moves.

F308

Of course it's unsafe. BTW, so is looking at your phone mounted on your handlebars, but that's a different thread.

In any case (speaking as a musician), isn't there are already too much "music" around you already? Supermarkets, home, muzak... you name it.

Enjoy the sound of reality, stay safe, and if you need it, hum or sing to yourself. You have a huge number of "music files" in your head already -- use them.

GlennR

Yes it is...

Bad music.

SpeedyBlueBiker

I've never asked a deaf cyclist. It would be great if a deaf cyclist responded with their experiences.

pbass

I'm a professional musician too, and for me riding is another way to get away from my job! I wanna hear birds, dogs, cars, trucks, wind, sirens, rattlesnakes--but NOT music!

texaspandj

I was a full-time musician for years. But I'm really a music lover more than a musician. Now my two sons, they are real musicians.
The best quote from a musician I heard is "It isn't something I want to do, It's something I have to do.
Earbud music while riding a bike is Not a distraction for 'ME" but rather an Enhancement.
Imagine watching the movie Jaws with No music.

900ss

Agreed, although I am not a musician. Riding particularly on the street, is a dangerous proposition and all our senses need to be in tune with our surroundings.

MattTheHat 

I wonder if any of them have survived! (Sarcasm mode)

Oneder

I wonder if they ride as freely or without special gear. Answer is kind of obvious.

julius rensch

Agreed ssmiker....
as an Audiologist, I must say, auditory clues and cues are paramount to making decisions, whether behind the wheel of an automobile, while cyling, or merely walking down the sidewalk....why anyone would want to circumvent that ability with "canned music" in your ears is beyond belief.
Julius in Ohio, who now uses hearing aids to survive and yes to hear the birds.

"Live simply, so that others may simply live"

pbass

Yep. I liken it to surfing. If you surf, you know what I mean - when a big set is coming in, you can't see what's behind that wave you're looking at, trying to decide whether to take it, duck dive, etc. But you can often hear what's behind it--is the set over? is there a monster coming and you're gonna be in the impact zone? I like all my senses at full capacity when doing any kind of sport that has physical risk.

sacr

possibly you had your headphones in when replying and were attempting to multi-task, where did I say it increases incidents?

As far as I know there is only research that shows that peoples ability to navigate their immediate environment is diminished when they have audio cues removed.
And as far as I know there are no stats to show that riding blindfolded increases incidents either...........

livedarklions

Irrelevant.

I see blind people doing pretty well walking on sidewalks, is that a reason for sighted people to wear blindfolds while walking?

indyfabz

You win BF for the week with that one.

bruce19

When I'm cycling I want all my senses at 100%. And, I'm too busy focusing on the bike, my body, technique and the surroundings to appreciate music anyway.

texaspandj

This.

julius rensch

Shall we take a look at this situation, realisticly?
Wearing Earphones when in an environment of potential danger may lead to incidents of disability or even death...it's called "distraction"

Julius in Ohio

maglia_grigia

would absolutely not have headphones in while riding on the road.

My view is you only need to be unlucky once and your life could change dramatically or come to a premature end.

I like to be able to hear when cars are coming and know they are approaching. I was riding near a motorway the other day and was mega surprised when a car passed me I couldn't hear because of the other traffic noise.

MattTheHat 

I was replying to your post where you said this:

”Yes, some jurisdictons are just slow in catching up, much the same way that most are slow on banning hands free phones for the drivers in car, yes its proven to increase incidents.”

So what are you saying increases incidents? Hands-free phones? The banning of hands-free phones? What does either have to do with riding while listening to music?

DrIsotope

I almost spit out my cereal when I read that one. Pull the other one while you're at it. On a typical 30 mile ride, I probably get passed by 400 cars-- because I trend toward lower traffic roads. Riding arterials (the ones that happen to have bike lanes) it would not be uncommon to be passed 30-50 times per minute. If you were to employ your purported tactic, you'd be spending more time looking behind you than looking in front of you.

This thread continues its journey into absurdity where baseless opinion gets dressed up as fact and bandies itself about. Headphones/earbuds are not dangerous in and of themselves. Not paying attention to your surroundings is dangerous. Every rider I personally know that has had an incident with another vehicle, none of them were wearing earbuds. They were presumably "fully aware of their surroundings."

Here's a fact that some posters won't like: Listening to music while riding is a choice. It is not mandatory. No one is making you do it. If you're interested, try it out. If you like it, go for it. If you don't like it... don't do it. Free will is neat.

Lemond1985

Reminds me of the argument I have heard about riders being helpless to control how they land or where they go during a crash. If you're about to crash, and just throw your hands up and say "Calgon take me away!" and let yourself flail around helplessly like a rag doll, I would agree that person has no control over their fate. But this is the result of a lack of concern, rather than it is the utter impossibility of making tactical decisions on the fly as to how you are gonna land.

Same with the headphones. You have made a decision to put everything going on behind you on "ignore". So yeah, at that point, you have handed control of your fate, over an endless line of faceless cars, and their angry / distracted / hung over / "just-got-fired-for-no-reason" standards of what a safe pass is.

In heavy traffic, of course you can't monitor every single car, but it's wise to monitor what going on on your left to the extent you can, and observe the general "mood" of traffic that day. I think this is important, but YMMV. Some people prefer to stay ignorant about certain things (e.g., what goes on in the toilet bowl) I completely understand it.

DrIsotope

Last time I had an "off" while riding, mid-way through a turn, my back wheel hit a patch of silt that was dry on the top and wet underneath-- it was like hitting black ice. One second I was doing 18mph, and within that same second I was on the ground. Time to plan? I was still clipped in and still had both hands on the bars. But I landed drive-side up, so it worked out.

You can plan for an incident you are absolutely certain is going to happen. You need to know the when, where, how, and why. This is how stuntmen survive their jobs. Accidents/incidents don't work that way. They just happen. The notion of "planning the fall" on a road bike just isn't really a thing. Every time I've come into contact with pavement, the whole thing was over in a blink of an eye.

Lastly, it's not about fate at all-- it's about faith. Cycling on the road is a pure act of faith. Against all other odds or indicators, you have faith that the car approaching you from behind is not going to hit you. And they either do, or they don't. If you have some deep-seated belief that you can somehow prevent the one time that one car is going to hit you from behind, sadly you are deluding yourself. You're not going to feel the tingle from your spider sense and bunny-hop onto the sidewalk at the last second to save yourself from disaster. I'm not being negative or nihilistic. I'm being pragmatic. I have accepted that there are things out of my control-- because honestly, thinking-- no, believing that someone is in control of something that they have ZERO control over is actually dangerous.

Ed. note: this is speaking strictly as a not MTB'er. They fall down all the time, and many of them get very, very good at it.