Why should I, everyone is wearing i-pods or headphones these days. I do 80% of my riding on the 45 mile long W&OD trail in Northern VA because our roads are terrible for cycling. Over the past year I’ve noticed a very disturbing trend…i-pods when riding; in fact, I would estimate nearly 50% of cyclist and 70% of runners are wearing some sort of audio device that impairs hearing. I’ve said this once and I’ll say it again, headphone are safe on the treadmill or the trainer, that’s it! About ten years ago a women in my running club was killed by a motorist when running with headphones. We will never know if the headphones played any role in her death but it makes you think…what if.
Tell me about it… I’ve been so close to crash my bike so many times because of people listening to their IPODS. Why can’t they just focus on their workouts or the nice outdoors. I always hear the same excuse that running is boring blah blah blah…
I believe if there is a place to listen to the IPOD it is the THREADMILL…
About 2 years ago, while riding past a a runner on the left on a bike path, the runner decided exactly at that instant that they’d had enought. Without a look, they did a U-turn and froze like a deer in the headlights when seeing me about 10 ft away… Needless to say, I locked up both brakes, skidded sideways, and hit them with the back half of my bike. I did stay upright. She was wearing headphones and couldn’t hear a thing.
Evidently, though I didn’t see any, she was wearing blinders, too and couldn’t see anything either.
I’ve raced for 15 years now and the ONLY penalty I ever got was a DQ due to me yelling “on your left”.
The moment in story: Davis Island, CocaCola Series, about 3-4 years ago - We are in a wave following a bunch of female waves (no offense). I’m a pretty fast biker so I immediatley begin to pass other bikers. We are getting to the base of a bridge were there is “no passing” allowed. The cones begin to narrow our path, yet, I have plently of time to pass before the bridge section. I yell “on your left” as I’ve done thousands of times before. This “female” screams at the top of her lungs as though she were being murdered, she panics, jerks her bike dead left into my path, I swerve left to avoid a bad crash and have to go left of a cone. There’s an official right “Jonny on the spot” and yells thats a DQ for Number “whatever I was”…end of my race!! I thinking “shit…I avoid a crash with a mornon cyclist and I get DQ’d.”
I still yell “on your left” when ever I pass someone in training or a race.
i don’t think it’s ipods that are necessarily the problem as much as it is just people lacking situational awareness. it’s not difficult to have headphones on yet still be cognizant of staying on the far right of a path or being aware of whether someone is on your back. i’ve had issues with plenty of people being completely oblivious to me being behind them and saying “on your left” who were head phone free…
I see a pretty big difference between riding with an iPod (should never be done) and running with one (ok in many circumstances so long as you remain aware of whats going on around you).
I am with you on this. I ride over a number of bridges which cyclist share with pedestrians. I always shout and often very loudly at pedestrians and other cyclist as a precaution. But recently there has been a significant increase in headphone wearers both cyclist and others, makes me very nervous passing them, and I am having to shout even louder!
The flip side to shouting at them is at times I have startled the cyclist to such an extent they have veered into my lane, one almost fell off!
There have been a few threads recently about headphones at races, I cannot understand the need to listen to something when riding or running, especially outdoors.
Yep! Did TOSRV last week-emd, 3000 riders and many had the Ipod… I yelled “on your left” to realize that the guy wasn’t moving because of headphones… that is DUMB
Riding with hedphones in both ears is illegal in California! Not like anyone cares though. It’s nuts, I always end up dodging kooks with Ipods every time I ride.
CALIFORNIA CODES VEHICLECODE
SECTION 27400
A person operating a motor vehicle or bicycle may not wear a
headset covering, or earplugs in, both ears. This prohibition does
not apply to any of the following:
(a) A person operating authorized emergency vehicles, as defined
in Section 165.
(b) A person engaged in the operation of either special
construction equipment or equipment for use in the maintenance of any
highway.
(c) A person engaged in the operation of refuse collection
equipment who is wearing a safety headset or safety earplugs.
(d) A person wearing personal hearing protectors in the form of
earplugs or molds that are specifically designed to attenuate
injurious noise levels. The plugs or molds shall be designed in a
manner so as to not inhibit the wearer’s ability to hear a siren or
horn from an emergency vehicle or a horn from another motor vehicle.
(e) A person using a prosthetic device that aids the hard of
hearing.
I started occasionally riding with an Ipod a couple months ago-always with volume very low, or the headphones wrapped over my ears instead of inserted with the volume loud so I could stay aware.
I quickly realized that it made riding less enjoyable-I didn’t notice the beautiful trees, the sound of myself breathing up a tough climb, or the blue sky.
Safety concerns aside, an Ipod makes cycling less enjoyable for me (still not with you guys on running though-Ipod is a life saver (even if it may kill you) there.
I ride with my Dell Jukebox all the time, right ear only, traffic side ear is always open, and at a very low volume. I can still hear traffic, and other things approaching from behind, and it helps to keep the left side of my brain occuppied while the right side is busy dodging pot holes, car doors and morons. Fortunately, i rarely have to worry about someone approaching me from behind and yelling “on your left”…not too many people pass me.
Agreed. As long as the volume is kept low there isn’t a problem. Situational awareness is the key. I like just the back ground sounds and usually the wind noise drowns out most of the sound any way. The only time I crank the tunes is when I’m on the trail going hard while running. I live in a rural area and never see anyone running and seldom on the bike.
