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Run in with an undercover garda
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i nearly always have the left ear piece in listening to a bit of music while i cycle along and ive never had any problems hearing traffic coming up from behind, but tbh if a car is coming 70 mph up behind you there is very little you can do except hope that the guy has enough sense to slow down and not kill you. Then again i do mtb'ing not road biking so im a bit safer than ye lot
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Icyseanfitz wrote: »i nearly always have the left ear piece in listening to a bit of music while i cycle along and ive never had any problems hearing traffic coming up from behind, but tbh if a car is coming 70 mph up behind you there is very little you can do except hope that the guy has enough sense to slow down and not kill you. Then again i do mtb'ing not road biking so im a bit safer than ye lot
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There is far too much weight given to the importance of hearing in traffic environments, to the point that people will substitute hearing for visual cues and may even subconsciously use their hearing for tasks which require visual confirmation, such as estimating the distance of following traffic.
False dichotomy. It doesn’t have to be either-or. You can estimate the speed and distance of following traffic using your hearing while confirming your estimates using your vision. The two methods are complementary. However, the important advantage offered by your hearing is that you can listen behind all of the time whereas you can only look behind intermittently. Wearing headphones forces you to rely exclusively on the latter method.
BTW, I perform my visual checks using this:
[OK, I’m resigned to the fact that this now places me firmly in the nerd category]
As an aside, a mirror allows for more frequent visual checks, with much less “dead time” per check, since shifting your eyeballs right by a few degrees is much faster than turning your head to look behind. As an added bonus, it also means that you never have to look behind during commuter races, offering an important psychological advantage.It would be a valuable lesson to "deafen" someone while they drive around for an hour to show them the importance of never relying on your hearing for anything.
If I should never rely on my hearing for anything, this leads inevitably to the strange conclusion that I should rely exclusively on my vision for everything (or that I shouldn’t rely on any of my senses for anything, in which case I wouldn’t dare leave the house in the morning). Why not use both hearing and vision to maximum effect? My hearing provides valuable information that cannot be substituted by my vision. Without my hearing, I am worse off. It isn’t a redundant sense.0 -
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yup i would take every one of those crashes before id want to get hit by an idiot in a car going 70 mph broken bones heal getting killed is forever, thanks for those videos btw great laugh, some of those lads where going massive :eek: getting my bike back tomorrow as well so very inspirational haha 0 -
Keep_Her_Lit wrote: »[OK, I’m resigned to the fact that this now places me firmly in the nerd category]
It does
and maybe I'm generalising but at any mass cycle I have attended the owners of bicycle mirrors seem to be the most twitchy and over correcting of anyone on the road, always to be given a wide berth. Same goes for commuting but they're not common on my route. 0 -
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petethedrummer wrote: »It does
Thankfully, I’m largely immune to peer pressure at this stage of my life. After spending a few very dangerous years taking enormous risks on high performance sports bikes, I really missed having the instant access to rear vision that a mirror affords. I’ve never looked back since.petethedrummer wrote: »maybe I'm generalising
Confirmed.petethedrummer wrote: »at any mass cycle I have attended
I’m tempted to generalise about the kind of people who attend mass cycles. But I won’t.0 -
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petethedrummer wrote: »It does and maybe I'm generalising but at any mass cycle I have attended the owners of bicycle mirrors seem to be the most twitchy and over correcting of anyone on the road, always to be given a wide berth. Same goes for commuting but they're not common on my route.
Another generalisation, I find the people decked out in the most safety gear and rear view mirrors to be the worst as well. I always just figure they're cycling newbs and thus a bit nervous hence making their cycling..... interesting.
They always seem to have their saddle down low and their knees up around their ears
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Canis Lupus wrote: »Another generalisation
Confirmed., I find the people decked out in the most safety gear and rear view mirrors to be the worst as well. I always just figure they're cycling newbs and thus a bit nervous hence making their cycling..... interesting.
I wish I was a newb, then I wouldn't need to work harder with each passing year to hang on to my fitness. Still, musn't grumble, since I've cycled to work for 22 of the past 27 years and enjoy it as much as ever.They always seem to have their saddle down low and their knees up around their ears
Any comments I get about my saddle height are precisely the opposite ("WTF is your saddle doing up there"). Works for me though.
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Keep_Her_Lit wrote: »Any comments I get about my saddle height are precisely the opposite ("WTF is your saddle doing up there"). Works for me though.
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I like it but the comment about the saddle must be the understatement of the year, words escape me on how to describe how ridiculously high that looks but if it works for you, keep to it.0 -
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petethedrummer wrote: »How in the name of jaysus do you reach those handle bars??? I'm jealous of your flexibility.
Maybe K_H_L is more on topic than we realised, and he actually uses the long arm of the law?0 -
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Lads, thanks for the feedback.I like it but the comment about the saddle must be the understatement of the year, words escape me on how to describe how ridiculously high that looks but if it works for you, keep to it.
Other cyclists have commented about the saddle height only when they've seen the bike on its own. On club spins with roadies, I'm informed that I appear to be comfortable and at ease on the bike. That's how it feels too. It used to be higher, BTW.petethedrummer wrote: »How in the name of jaysus do you reach those handle bars??? I'm jealous of your flexibility.
tomasrojo has me rumbled...
As you will observe, Mr. Tickle is quite correctly NOT wearing any headphones.Canis Lupus wrote: »That bike is a travesty :P
Well, that's a new compliment to add to the list. However, compared to a "normal" bike, it has numerous advantages. For starters, who in their right mind would ever want to steal it?0 -
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Keep_Her_Lit wrote: »Confirmed.
I wish I was a newb, then I wouldn't need to work harder with each passing year to hang on to my fitness. Still, musn't grumble, since I've cycled to work for 22 of the past 27 years and enjoy it as much as ever.
Any comments I get about my saddle height are precisely the opposite ("WTF is your saddle doing up there"). Works for me though.
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ah the wasp. before ye start slaggin him for his anti-euro mirrors and the fact that the bike looks like its weighed in stones rather than grams ye should try to keep up with him on the N11.
Ive tried cycling without the headphones the last couple of evenings and I can't say that it makes me feel more aware than having the tunes on. I suppose i listen to talk radio mostly if not random mp3s, not particularly loud and I dont wear in-ear phones so it really never affects me adversely as regards hearing traffic or being able to talk to other road users.0 -
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I'd be pretty sure you're not going to hear anymore about this but wtf were you doing cycling around with you're headphones on? Accident waiting to happen
I wear headphones all the time. Can always still hear traffic, even with the ipod turned up full volume I can hear all the traffic around me. I've always had freakishly good hearing though.
Must try the giving a friendly wave when people beep thing. A wave and a big grin would be class, must start pissing drivers off so I can get beeped at, I never get beeped at.
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ah the wasp. before ye start slaggin him for his anti-euro mirrors and the fact that the bike looks like its weighed in stones rather than grams ye should try to keep up with him on the N11.
Aaarghh! I'll probably get dropped every morning for the rest of this month now!Ive tried cycling without the headphones the last couple of evenings and I can't say that it makes me feel more aware than having the tunes on. I suppose i listen to talk radio mostly if not random mp3s, not particularly loud and I dont wear in-ear phones so it really never affects me adversely as regards hearing traffic or being able to talk to other road users.
You know, with that groovy jazz you listen to, maybe the oul' headphones aren't such a bad idea after all 0 -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xublRlcupIg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZd3fdVd4mQ
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