What do you do?

[Road Viexn]

I am riding in my first organized ride here in 1 week, Little Red Riding hood. I am doing the 33 miler. I figure it will take me 2-2/12 hours to complete the ride. There is no music players allowed. I have always done my rides with music. I put my ear buds in my right ear so I can hear traffic coming. I just don't know how I am going to stand a 2 + hour workout with no music! What do you do to get through those rides with no music. I really am more worried about this than any other thing on the ride. My aunt is riding it with me, but she is faster than me and is using it to get a base time for another ride she has coming up, so I am betting I will be riding the majority of the ride by myself. How can I entertain myself and keep myself going?

[Biciclista]

There will be plenty of other people around you. Strike up a conversation! I'm sure you'll do fine without music playing in your ear. you might even like it. It's not a workout, it's a bike ride.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

What do you do to get through those rides with no music.

I look at the scenery. I people watch. I listen to the sounds around me. I feel my body working. I think about a thousand different things. I'm never bored.

[Aquila]

I'm all for talking to people.

But, if you get desperate, you can sing to your bike. I do.

My bike, talkin' 'bout my bike. My bike...

Hopefully you sing better than I do. /nod

[Zen]

I wish I could shut up the ongoing conversation in my head.
Sometimes I have a song stuck in there. It's often a tune like this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ub9Oj4LaSUs&feature=related)

[Owlie]

I ride alone most of the time. I talk to myself: "Ooh, goldfinch!...there's a hole there..." kind of thing. Not out loud, lest people find out I'm crazy. Or I have a soundtrack in my head. Usually it's not something remotely appropriate for the situation. :rolleyes:

If I'm riding with others, I talk to them.

[ny biker]

I sing to myself in my head. Tonight it was "On the sunny side of the street" as sung by Willie Nelson on his Stardust album. 'Cause the honeysuckles are in bloom right now, and they made me think of the movie Honeysuckle Rose, but I don't know any songs from that...

For really hard rides I play good riding music in the car for about a week beforehand, so it will be stuck in my head during the ride.

One time I spent several hours singing "Fight On, Pennsylvania," which is the fight song for the college I went to. It worked quite nicely.

One day last year I sang "Ice cream and cake and cake. Ice cream and cake and cake. ICE CREAM AND CAKE DO THE ICE CREAM AND CAKE!!!" from the Baskin Robbins commercial that I saw just before leaving for the ride. I did this for about 35 miles.

[Biciclista]

my husband talks to all the animals. (That includes birds, bugs, dogs, horses, cows, etc)

[Pedal Wench]

Or run your headphones up to the top of your sports bra straps and turn up the volume. Works for me.

[colby]

You might try one of your workouts before that without music, just to get used to it. Be careful not to set yourself up for failure or a miserable ride just because it's not there. Stay positive! :)

I don't ever wear anything in my ears (except at the gym), and do ride for several hours. If I need a pep talk, I pep talk my bike (thinly veiled pep talk for myself ;)). If it's long and boring, I might sing a song ("she's going the distance... she's going for speed...." is my racing theme, though I do also like "she'll be coming round the mountain" for endurance rides because it has several verses and I live near mountains). I do talk to animals sometimes, or think up songs I know related to whatever I'm seeing (old macdonald had a farm, the horses horses horses horses part of whatever Meg Ryan movie that is where she sings in the car at Christmastime). I also like to play math games, calculating the percentage of the ride that I am at and how much percentage each mile will give me, or what my next interval is for the next major percentage point, like 10% or 5% or 25%. Divide and conquer.

I guess you find time to fill the time. Half the time I don't even remember what I was thinking of when I ride. I just rode for almost an hour a couple of hours ago and I really don't remember, it's kind of bizarre. :)

[Catrin]

I don't listen to music when riding, though I do at the gym but the longest I have ridden at this point is 2.5 hours. I do talk to the animals I see (please don't cross in front of me), and enjoy the sights/sounds of the world around me. I sing to myself sometimes in my head - or when on rural roads by myself will sing out loud. Softly :p

[lph]

I know how you feel, Road Vixen! I ride with music "all the time" too, and while I don't feel bored without it, I feel twice as energetic, strong and gutsy with music. I can slack off something awful without. Which is fine if I'm cruising near the beach with my son on holiday, but a drag if I actually have to go a long distance on my own and reckon on getting tired and downbeat on the way.

I second the earbuds-on-bra-strap idea, but do check out in advance if that's ok, or if they really mean it with NO music players. If they do, try playing something fun and upbeat in advance in the car like nybiker says so you're in the mood :D, and I'm sure adrenaline will kick in and do the rest. If you get company you'll be fine.

[Grog]

It's just amazing everything you discover in the world when you're focusing your senses on the world around you. I betcha you'll see things you never saw before if you truly turn your attention to the road and its surroundings.

And yes talking to others and to your bike is an option. :)

I love music as well, but I never ride with it (unless it's on the trainer). I always have a song in my heart though.

[tulip]

It's just amazing everything you discover in the world when you're focusing your senses on the world around you. I betcha you'll see things you never saw before if you truly turn your attention to the road and its surroundings.

+1. Being in the moment and part of the world around me is one of the main reasons I ride my bike. There are no distractions, just what is happening. It's quite powerful.

[Psycler]

Grog and Tulip, I agree completely.

[indysteel]

+1. Being in the moment and part of the world around you is one of the main reasons I ride my bike. There are no distractions, just what is happening. It's quite powerful.

Absolutely. I don't generally like listening to music with earphones anyway, but I love the noisy quiet of my rural rides. By noisy quiet, I mean that overall it's generally pretty quiet riding out in the country--until I focus on the chatter of all the birds and insects, mixed with the hum of my bike. I love it.

[PamNY]

+1. Being in the moment and part of the world around me is one of the main reasons I ride my bike. There are no distractions, just what is happening. It's quite powerful.

This, exactly.

[Maxxxie]

I always have some song or another going through my head, whether I'm cycling or not. +1 to other peoples' suggestions of saturating yourself with great cycling music beforehand. Then just play an "encore" in your head and you'll be fine :)

Max

[Pedal Wench]

I always have a song in my heart though.

Love that!

I ride with music about 50% of the time. Never in a group or when riding with friends, and not usually on my intown rides. I was doing a long, lonely hill training ride, realized I left my player at home and almost turned around to get it. But, on that ride, on the descents in particular, I almost got my descending mojo back. Part of it was singing out loud. The Glee version of "Total Eclipse of the Heart" just had me carving turns like never before.

[marni]

ah bless the "mind worms" of songs that wander through my mind when I ride. I talk out loud to myself, the animals, mutter at the drivers, and then I make up songs about the ride and alternate them with Queens' Bicycle race, and some mental mozart masses that I only know a few words to, or just think my thoughts, watch the road and listen to the birds. I do however often ride with an earbud in my bra if I am doing intervals or really pushing for speed and or distance but that is because I ride solo 99.9% of the time.

Incidentally, for those who haven't yet discovered them yet there is a podcast called "Podrunner" which does a whole series of podcasts featuring tempo runds at different speedds, plus a series of training podcasts for 5,8 and 20 K training with gradually building tempos. These are great for intervals on the bike.

marni

[Jiffer]

I have done some organized rides where I "happened" to notice they say "no headphones", but people wear them anyway, including me, and it is not an issue. I think they say it as a precaution, but in my experience, they don't enforce it. Especially if you are reasonably subtle about it and only wear it in your right ear. I don't want to get you in trouble, though. Just giving you my two cents.

Having said that, I have done a few races where I for sure could not wear headphones without being disqualified. The first was 55 miles and I was a little freaked at the possibility. But found the thrill of doing the race kept me going. I think you'll find you'll be distracted enough with the ride itself and the people around you to be too frustrated about no music. But I suspect you'll see other people wearing headphones. Not that you should. That's your choice to make. I think the worst that could happen is they tell you take it off.

Have fun and good luck!!! :D