Listening to tunes and local news during a Bicycle Touring Adventure

My old water resistant FM sports radio and the MP3 player that replaced it.
Click to enlarge.

While enjoying a bicycle touring adventure I often pedal along listening to the sound of my tires humming on the pavement, the chain revolving around the drivetrain and the birds chirping in the nearby woods. Other sounds that round out the symphony include cars roaring by, lumber trucks rumbling and big semi-trailers downshifting. Most days there are plenty of sounds to keep me enthralled for quite some time and if needed I can always fall back on humming or whistling to myself (although this is risky since songs can occasionally become stuck in your head)

Still there are days when the natural bicycle touring noises aren't quite enough and I find myself craving the sound of another human voice.

Alternatively I am experiencing the bane of the most bicycle tourists, the dreaded headwind.

On those days I quickly pull out my radio or MP3 player and start listening to music to keep my cadence moving and my motivation and feeling of happiness high!

While commuting or doing long country rides I rarely use a sound device other then a horn or bell. Only during a tour does the helpful music player appear.

During my Round Lake Erie tour I used a small water-resistant FM radio to help while away the rare day when I wanted a little music along. A year later, when rounding Lake Huron, I carried a MP3 player with over 8 hours of music onboard. More importantly the MP3 player I purchased has an AM/FM radio option and I can upgrade the memory from the built-in 256 MB to 1.256 GB by using an external SD memory card. This results in somewhere around three riding days worth of music without a single song repeating.

You might wonder what kind of music I listen to during my ride. I have a real mixture but all of the songs have two common elements, they have a fast beat and they make me happy! I find that these kind of songs really make those headwind days incredibly easier to handle and with the right beat those hills suddenly seem a lot easier to climb even at the end of a long day in the saddle.

( As an aside I have some funny songs too like the football game "Goodbye song" used whenever I leave a campsite and the "signs, signs, everywhere there's signs" song that is incredibly funny when seeing your two hundredth speed limit sign in a row. )

When I ride I only use one ear bud in my right ear and the volume is set relatively low. This is the ear that's furthest from the traffic. The other ear bud is neatly wrapped around the helmet strap on the same side. I also use a helmet mirror when touring so this largely reduces any danger I might experience from listening to music with the one ear.

If you are considering listening to music when riding you might consider checking to see if there are any legal concerns for the areas you will be riding through. There have been rumours on various lists of some legal restrictions for cyclists in some parts of the world.

Of course you should only do things that are comfortable and appealing to you. Just as many cyclists listen to tunes while riding there are also many others who don't.

Even these cyclists often consider taking a radio along with them to listen to while cooking dinner or getting ready to go in the morning. A radio can be really handy if you have a desire to listen to a local weather report for instance.

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