one-way berations

[swee'pea99]

I guess at least in part it depends on your ride. Personally I would never ride with music, but I suppose if your commute is 45 mins through a drab and empty landscape it might make some kind of sense - for my 25 min burn through the London rush hour, it would be just plain bonkers.

 

[Plax]

I've never listened to music whilst cycling or running. Mainly because it was drummed into me as a child that listening to headphones whilst walking to/from school near busy roads was silly and dangerous as my full attention would not be on the traffic and I might get run over.

 

[tdr1nka]

I don't know what it is, but when someone cuts me up my voice jumps a couple of octaves! (Actually reading over that last sentence, it probably makes more sense if I replace the word cuts with snips...)

Speaking as one who has been snipped, I have still retained my rich bass baritone.

I say no to headphones while cycling, even tried a bluetooth headset for the phone but that was distracting too.

 

[Stig-OT-Dump]

I overheard a conversation the other day, it was ace:

"I'm lucky, I've only been knocked off my bicycle [by a car] twice"
then...
"some people cycle across town in rush hour listening to their i-pods. Idiots"

I thought about piping up that 1 - I listen to quiet music but look around me, and 2 - I haven't been knocked off by a car

But then I thought i'd be tempting fate. Mind you, Mr Drinka, I would NEVER use a phone while riding because that would really take my mind elsewhere.

(as an aside, my MP3 player has been playing up and sometimes I won't notice that I haven't got music, even after 20 mins without it. I like tunes, but they aren't intrusive the way I play 'em)

 

[bonj2]

I'm afraid I'm with Dave here. If the road is 'boring without music' - well: it may on the other hand be 'dangerous with music'. Your ears are an important asset: use them to stay alive! Hear the noise of that following car's engine! Hear that ambulance siren approaching from a distance! Listen to music by all means when conditions are appropriate - e.g. cycle path or totally deserted road where you don't expect any vehicles.

[pedant]By the way, the word you were thinking of (in the thread title) is 'berating'. There is no such noun as 'beration' unless you're in the business of firing off nonce-words . Anyway I took it for a typo for 'aberration' [/pedant]

i COULD hear the engine noise behind me, but i can't HEAR the steering wheel being yanked left can i...

 

[bonj2]

firm believer in no music, ears are a big deal for all that blind spot behind

and I like the 'in future' bit

defo a vague implied threat there, nice

also the 'jab' - psychologists say that the pointing of the index finger in a sharp 'jabbing' motion towards the person's face is actually a very aggressive gesture, ... therefore it satisfies the anger and placates the red mist without having to use violence.

 

[bonj2]

No music for me, wouldn't feel as aware. Also, how can you be sure you sound angry? You might have sounded like a Beegee and thought you sounded like Mick McCarthy.

i know i can't possibly get my voice particularly high, i always sound fairly gruff

One-way tirades are fine as they have cathartic value and are far less offensive than eg the fuel-guzzling bonj-swiper's actions. Fair game. Drive like an idiot, prepare to be castigated like an idiot.

thank you Tete. this is the sort of answer i was lookin for

Bonj, if you can't hear him then there is no point having a conversation with him. No point stopping to yell at him because you can't put down any comments he makes; to him, you're some deaf nutter who had a go at him.

it wasn't a conversation, it was a beration. The reason I'm not sure it would have been particularly worth listening to what he had to say is that for one, i could quite easily have predicted what it was. something along the lines of either: (a) "well I thought i gave you plenty of room", ( "I thought you were going slower", (c) "sorr-rree!", or (d) "f**k off pal i'm late for work".
For another, I wanted to do the thing that has the most impact on him. If i had an airzound, then making him jump out of his skin with a long blast on it woul have been preferable. But i don't have one for other reasons, so I felt that something that (a) rattled his cage and ( didn't waste my time, would have made him take notice more than something beginning 'excuse me mister, but...'

 

[alecstilleyedye]

two brill inventions, the bicycle and the ipod. best enjoyed separately.

a) i don't feel as aware of what's around
it gives cagers' insurance companies a get out if they knock me off

 

[HJ]

Just print off a few copies of this and hand them to them, assuming they can read of course...

Thanks for the idea Mag...

 

[bonj2]

how is "You are not authorized to view this page" going to tell them how to drive properly?

 

[Cab]

it wasn't a conversation, it was a beration. The reason I'm not sure it would have been particularly worth listening to what he had to say is that for one, i could quite easily have predicted what it was. something along the lines of either: (a) "well I thought i gave you plenty of room", ( "I thought you were going slower", (c) "sorr-rree!", or (d) "f**k off pal i'm late for work".
For another, I wanted to do the thing that has the most impact on him. If i had an airzound, then making him jump out of his skin with a long blast on it woul have been preferable. But i don't have one for other reasons, so I felt that something that (a) rattled his cage and ( didn't waste my time, would have made him take notice more than something beginning 'excuse me mister, but...'

You achieved one thing; he thinks you're a deaf nutter. Conversations have to be two way.

 

[Tynan]

bonj wanted to let the bloke know how he felt, job done

you know the other party has nothing useful to say

 

[bonj2]

You achieved one thing; he thinks you're a deaf nutter. Conversations have to be two way.

yes but whether he wants to admit it to himself or not, he also knows he did something wrong.

 

[HJ]

how is "You are not authorized to view this page" going to tell them how to drive properly?

Ok try down loading the attached file and printing it off....

 

[Abitrary]

I cycled up and shouted "OI!! drive like that on your test, did you?" (cheers magnatom for that one ) he looked bewildered. I then from about 4 feet from him, jabbed a finger aggressively towards him and shouted "just WATCH IT in future!"

If it's cold weather I have to actually give my frozen cheeks and mouth a bit of a rub / wiggle before I can enunciate words properly when I get in to work.

If it was cold, and you couldn't hear what you were saying, mightned you have run the risk of sounding a little, er, mongy when you were abusing him?