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.