"Avoid using headsets to listen to music"

[Lise]

This should be a poll thread!

I'm solidly in the no-headphones-when-riding camp. Riding in Chicago is dangerous. People, cars, animals, potholes, broken glass, etc. I need to be very sharp, alert, scanning the road all the time. That's part of what I enjoy--it makes me feel really alive. I make up songs about the traffic, usually sort of magic spells to keep me from getting hurt! I also tend to sing either Amazing Grace or Amarillo By Morning on the bike. Or when I want to get a driver's attention, I'll sing "Hello, hello, this is Romeo..." (Melissa Ethridge).

I run with the headphones--my own disparaging inner critic gets too loud otherwise. Fortunately, on the bike, I feel like a superhero (go Team Danger!)

I hate riding around people using headphones. They can't hear me, even if I yell. They're oblivious to everyone around them. Who knows when they'll decide to rock out and fling their arms up in the air? The WORST are rollerbladers. Dancing on wheels on a crowded path. Insane.

Right up there are people talking on their phones while riding. Really unsafe. My favorite is still the guy I saw on the lakefront path this spring: On rollerblades, one arm in a cast and sling, the other arm holding a dog's leash, and talking on his cell phone. Sit down, you moron!

[SadieKate]

Sit down, you moron!

Guess you're not getting the Team Danger Good Citizen Award. Hmm, guess I'm not either since I have a tendency to blurt stuff out. It's up to you, MP.

[maillotpois]

Guess you're not getting the Team Danger Good Citizen Award. Hmm, guess I'm not either since I have a tendency to blurt stuff out. It's up to you, MP.

No, no. That kind of comment is perfect for Team Danger.

And I am in the NO camp on headphones. I only use them on the trainer. While riding I like to listen to the animals, breeze, creek, my own swearing, whatever. And the song in my head. Which varies. I think right now it is still Long Tall Texan by Lyle Lovett. But I haven't been on my bike in a while to check.

[Lise]

Guess you're not getting the Team Danger Good Citizen Award. Hmm, guess I'm not either since I have a tendency to blurt stuff out. It's up to you, MP.

I don't know...Good Citizen...making the paths safe for others...I think I could spin this one...

OK, I'll grant you I'm totally out of the running for Miss Congeniality.

PS: Pascale, I love the picture of your Borzoi! What a pairing of avatars, eh? From borzoi to dachshund.

[SadieKate]

I don't know...Good Citizen...making the paths safe for others...I think I could spin this one...

OK, I'll grant you I'm totally out of the running for Miss Congeniality.

The three of us are then in deep doo-doo. Last time yellow and I rode up Mt Diablo together I called someone an A-hole. Just came out. Even kind of shocked me. But he deserved it since he scared us so much. I am trying to mend my ways and find a more ladylike way to say the same thing.

I haven't yet witnessed MP do anything similar, but I can see it boiling beneath the surface.

[maillotpois]

The three of us are then in deep doo-doo. Last time yellow and I rode up Mt Diablo together I called someone an A-hole. Just came out. Even kind of shocked me. But he deserved it since he scared us so much. I am trying to mend my ways and find a more ladylike way to say the same thing.

I haven't yet witnessed MP do anything similar, but I can see it boiling beneath the surface.

regrettably, not very far under the surface.

[Kitsune06]

I have to say I'm with Pascale.

I mostly ride without headphones/music because some of my routes take me places where such would be a dangerous distraction. I never wear them in the city. Then, I just go off the music that invariably plays in my head anyway- the Beatles, nirvana, blind melon, the Doors, etc... easygoing, pretty slowish stuff.
BUT,
When I'm on those long, empty trails and trying to keep up my cadence without a computer, I hang one of my earbuds (the ones with the hook that goes around your ear) on and listen to DGF's techno, with treble turned up, so I mostly hear "unf unf unf unf...." and the treble just as a sort of ghost over the wind noise. Honestly, if I pick up enough speed, my 1/2" plugs whistle louder than the earbud thumps, so it doesn't matter much to me either way.

I might feel differently when I'm older and wiser, but now I'm young and foolish and like my thumpy music.

[Lise]

The three of us are then in deep doo-doo. Last time yellow and I rode up Mt Diablo together I called someone an A-hole. Just came out. Even kind of shocked me. But he deserved it since he scared us so much. I am trying to mend my ways and find a more ladylike way to say the same thing.

I haven't yet witnessed MP do anything similar, but I can see it boiling beneath the surface.

I know. When somebody scares me on the road, the very worst of my language comes out. Not proud. Just sayin'. On the other hand, when I yell "On yer left!" and the person/people move over, I always say, "Thank you!" as I pass. Only fair.

I doubt that Team Danger will win many "Ladylike" awards.

[chickwhorips]

Right up there are people talking on their phones while riding. Really unsafe. My favorite is still the guy I saw on the lakefront path this spring: On rollerblades, one arm in a cast and sling, the other arm holding a dog's leash, and talking on his cell phone. Sit down, you moron!

i don't get that one. if your on a phone, why are you trying to 'work out'? doesn't that just ruin the whole idea of getting away and doing something for yourself?

i'm so happy there is no cell phone coverage here just for that reason. hate being around people that are trying to do to many things at once.

[Pascale]

It's also illegal in Minnesota to wear headphones while riding a bike.

This only applies when riding on public roads, I've been told by a law enforcement official (i.e. not a "rail trail").

[Pascale]

I hate riding around people using headphones. They can't hear me, even if I yell. They're oblivious to everyone around them. Who knows when they'll decide to rock out and fling their arms up in the air?

OMG, I have NEVER behaved like this. I am never oblivious to my surroundings - I keep my head up, my eyes on the road and check my mirror ALL the time. I see people LONG before I could ever hear them coming, from either direction...

[Lise]

OMG, I have NEVER behaved like this. I am never oblivious to my surroundings - I keep my head up, my eyes on the road and check my mirror ALL the time. I see people LONG before I could ever hear them coming, from either direction...

Pascale, you have never seen people on the north branch of the Chicago Lakefront Path! People are nuts.

I notice you're from the Twin Cities. I have relatives up there. When my cousin, John, moved to Chicago, he learned how to use his horn in traffic. When my aunt came down to visit, she was shocked when he blew his horn! "John! What are you doing?! That's so rude!"

I'm not surprised that you're a more responsible rider than most of us down here.

[Veronica]

I'm sure the racer boy who nearly ran into me on Wed. as he made his left hand turn w/o looking to the right, felt perfectly safe on his long ride with his ear buds. I betcha he rides hundred of miles a week that way.

It's a good thing I'm not oblivious... because he would have hit me if I hadn't changed my pace.

V.

[Pascale]

Pascale, you have never seen people on the north branch of the Chicago Lakefront Path! People are nuts.

I notice you're from the Twin Cities. I have relatives up there. When my cousin, John, moved to Chicago, he learned how to use his horn in traffic. When my aunt came down to visit, she was shocked when he blew his horn! "John! What are you doing?! That's so rude!"

I'm not surprised that you're a more responsible rider than most of us down here.

Lise, that's very sweet of you to say. I don't know about that, but I do REALLY to treat people the way I'd like to be treated - it seems a simple enough concept, LOL.

btw - I love the pic of your running Daschund - my neighbor has a puppy mini-dacshund and I'm trying to find a way to steal her away - she keeps coming under the fence into my yard - I think she really wants to live with ME and I ADORE her! lol

[Lise]

btw - I love the pic of your running Daschund - my neighbor has a puppy mini-dacshund and I'm trying to find a way to steal her away - she keeps coming under the fence into my yard - I think she really wants to live with ME and I ADORE her! lol

Oh, yeah, they do love to go under the fence! That's not actually Schatzi in the picture, although she looked just like that in her prime. Snapdragen found that picture for me to use as an avatar when I joined the site.

Schatzi lived to be 19. She was often the sanest member of our family! Her priorities were never out of order. And she loved to dig under fences.