Reinvented Duffle Bag.

[TheCyclingRooster]

Hi to you all out there. The Autumn is arriving faster than the leaves can drop and the first proper frost arriving.
I see on p20 of the October Cycling Active that the Good Old 'Cyclists Soft Suitcase' has reappeared. It looks good and has features consistent with modern times. I am however a little perturbed to see the inclusion of a headphone port. This is condoning the idiotic practice of the cyclists equivalent to using the mobile phone whilst driving. Our ears are the rear defenders,why bung them up with earphones?.
In the 60's I didn't go anywhere without my Duffle Bag,indeed I made hundreds of them in bright colours from Yellow through to Bright Orange and Peppermint Green and all had reflective strips sew onto the rear facing parts.
When I got married and had my three daughters they each had one and were the envy of their class mates.

 

[JamieRegan]

Hi to you all out there. The Autumn is arriving faster than the leaves can drop and the first proper frost arriving.
I see on p20 of the October Cycling Active that the Good Old 'Cyclists Soft Suitcase' has reappeared. It looks good and has features consistent with modern times. I am however a little perturbed to see the inclusion of a headphone port. This is condoning the idiotic practice of the cyclists equivalent to using the mobile phone whilst driving. Our ears are the rear defenders,why bung them up with earphones?.
In the 60's I didn't go anywhere without my Duffle Bag,indeed I made hundreds of them in bright colours from Yellow through to Bright Orange and Peppermint Green and all had reflective strips sew onto the rear facing parts.
When I got married and had my three daughters they each had one and were the envy of their class mates.

I disagree that using earphones on the bike is idiotic. I've done it for years and I've never failed to hear the traffic. I don't understand why it's such a problem.

I don't just mean I've never had an incident. I mean I can hear the traffic perfectly well and it's never been an issue at all.

Would you say that a deaf person is not allowed to cycle?

 

[twobiker]

I disagree that using earphones on the bike is idiotic. I've done it for years and I've never failed to hear the traffic. I don't understand why it's such a problem.

I don't just mean I've never had an incident. I mean I can hear the traffic perfectly well and it's never been an issue at all.

Would you say that a deaf person is not allowed to cycle?

If you did tell them they wouldn't know, unless they could lip read.

 

[TheCyclingRooster]

I disagree that using earphones on the bike is idiotic. I've done it for years and I've never failed to hear the traffic. I don't understand why it's such a problem.

I don't just mean I've never had an incident. I mean I can hear the traffic perfectly well and it's never been an issue at all.

Would you say that a deaf person is not allowed to cycle?

Hi Jamie. NO,that is an idiotic question to ask. Their are people out there that not only Deaf but also Deaf Mute and there are HGV drivers and ordinary regular drivers that only have one eye,it does not stop them from passing Driving Tests and continuing to drive in a relatively normal manner.
Their other senses are heightened,nature compensates for it's own deficiencies.
Riding around with ears bung up will be a BIG mistake one day.
I just hope it is not me that you end up involving because your attention was elsewhere and your ears were busy doing other than listening to protect your arse end.

 

[danger mouse]

Not sure that its fully correct regarding vision and possession of HGV licence

Taken from DVLA fitness leaflet


Monocular vision
The applicant will need to have a minimum acuity of 6/12 if
they were licensed on 1/1/1983 and 6/9 if first licensed since
that date. Drivers who have monocular vision cannot have
C, C1 (12 tonnes combined), D or D1 categories. The only
exceptions are;
• those drivers whose C or D entitlements were issued
before 1/1/91 in the knowledge of monocularity and
were still in force on 1/4/91, or
• drivers who passed a C1 test prior to 1/1/97.
A minimum acuity of 6/12 is required if licensed on 1/1/1983
and 6/9 if since. A certificate of recent driving experience will
also be required. DVLA will send this certificate to you for
completion on receipt of a valid application.
* Drivers whose best vision in one eye has deteriorated
since the previous application to less than 3/60 will be
considered functionally monocular and we will not give
them a medium/ large goods or passenger carrying
vehicle driving licence.

Also if you do have usual speech


Difficulty in communicating by telephone
in an emergency


Equally I don't buy the approach that all people who have limited particualr sense compensate with another.

I just don't get the attitude towards headphones.

Are you seriously telling me that when you are going at a clip that your hearing is not obscured with wind noise?

Obviously I am not possessed of the ability to choose where I focus my hearing.

 

[TheCyclingRooster]

Not sure that its fully correct regarding vision and possession of HGV licence

Taken from DVLA fitness leaflet


Monocular vision
The applicant will need to have a minimum acuity of 6/12 if
they were licensed on 1/1/1983 and 6/9 if first licensed since
that date. Drivers who have monocular vision cannot have
C, C1 (12 tonnes combined), D or D1 categories. The only
exceptions are;
• those drivers whose C or D entitlements were issued
before 1/1/91 in the knowledge of monocularity and
were still in force on 1/4/91, or
• drivers who passed a C1 test prior to 1/1/97.
A minimum acuity of 6/12 is required if licensed on 1/1/1983
and 6/9 if since. A certificate of recent driving experience will
also be required. DVLA will send this certificate to you for
completion on receipt of a valid application.
* Drivers whose best vision in one eye has deteriorated
since the previous application to less than 3/60 will be
considered functionally monocular and we will not give
them a medium/ large goods or passenger carrying
vehicle driving licence.

Also if you do have usual speech


Difficulty in communicating by telephone
in an emergency


Equally I don't buy the approach that all people who have limited particualr sense compensate with another.

I just don't get the attitude towards headphones.

Are you seriously telling me that when you are going at a clip that your hearing is not obscured with wind noise?

Obviously I am not possessed of the ability to choose where I focus my hearing.

Hi danger mouse. In both cases the people that I referred to are perfectly legal. Indeed the chap with one eye and the elder of the two is a Class 1 HGV and the drives a private car.

 

[2Loose]

If car drivers can drive around with windows done up and stereos on loud, I don't see how riding with headphones has to be such a bad thing.

I would expect the rider to compensate with more rear checks, much as I do when I get wind noise and less peripheral vision when I occasionally wear a helmet (See what I did there?), but it doesn't mean they are less able. I feel a bit cut off when wearing them, but I know others that don't. Their choice.

can, worms, open.

Even my cycling jacket has an mp3 pocket and cable hole, so I know some people feel fine about using them.

 

[rowan 46]

There is a myth that people with a visual/ hearing disability heighten their other senses. strictly speaking this isn't true. What happens is they learn to utilise their senses in a different way using a mixture of concentration and or memory. A visually impaired person doesn't have better hearing than a sighted person neither does a deaf person have better eyesight than a hearing person. what happens is the brain of a normal person filters out the overload of information ( take for example listening to a conversation in a crowded or noisy club). A hearing or non sighted person just learns to use different cues to make sense of their world they don't develop super senses. There is no reason why cyclists using headphones can't do the same they just need to concentrate more and look more after all that's what deaf people do and they don't need special training to do it.

 

[JamieRegan]

The point I was trying to make about the deaf person on a bike, is that everyone is different. I might be more aware of traffic noise with my earphones in, than someone else who doesn't have any in at all.

And like someone else mentioned, there's wind noise, there's also noise from other traffic, buses etc, that mask other cars, so I don't think it's a big deal. It's just one of these band-wagons that people like to jump on.

And it could be argued that listening to music aids the concentration levels. For the same reason, a lot of students listen to music whilst revising and computer programmers listen to music whilst programming or doing whatever stuff they do.

 

[TheCyclingRooster]

There is a myth that people with a visual/ hearing disability heighten their other senses. strictly speaking this isn't true. What happens is they learn to utilise their senses in a different way using a mixture of concentration and or memory. A visually impaired person doesn't have better hearing than a sighted person neither does a deaf person have better eyesight than a hearing person. what happens is the brain of a normal person filters out the overload of information ( take for example listening to a conversation in a crowded or noisy club). A hearing or non sighted person just learns to use different cues to make sense of their world they don't develop super senses. There is no reason why cyclists using headphones can't do the same they just need to concentrate more and look more after all that's what deaf people do and they don't need special training to do it.

Hi rowan 46. A perfectly plausible/logical if not totally convincing argument. How would you explain the actions (faultless at that) of an exponent of Judo that was TOTALLY BLIND,he could not even see shadow,there was clear evidence that there was a slight hearing impairment.
When on the Judo Mat,the old Coir Fibre type he would engage in very fast contest work with a variety of opponents,he himself was Black Belt 1st Dan. Never once did I see him ever step off the edge of the mat,never once did I see him put an opponent off the mat.
He always new where he was even in a very noisy Do-Jo. the Do-Jo had several mats in use therefore there was an incredible racket of sound filling the air.
This chap was a few years older than me,I lost contact with him in the late 80's when my work took me away.
He was always and respectfully referred as Blind ***. Everywhere he went his faithful Yellow Labrador went.

 

[rowan 46]

I have been rechecking my sources and have come across some new research which shows I am not as right as I thought I was. I seems that if the disability happens within the first 2 years of life the brain rewires itself and uses the spare capacity to heighten other sensory processing. After 2 years this "brain plasticity" no longer happens. Here is a link to a report summary I found. So not a complete myth in all cases after all.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/07/040723093712.htm

 

[Jezston]

Don't have this month's Cycling Active - can anyone point me towards the item in question?

Regarding listening to music whilst cycling - calm yourself down CyclingRooster. Regular headphones don't make you deaf - that's why you have to spend large amounts of money on noise cancelling variants. If yer average headphones were that well insulated you wouldn't hear other people's music coming out of theirs on the bus now would you?

If you don't like the idea of listening to music or whatever whilst riding, don't do it. Don't start going round telling other people off for doing something they do whilst riding the 20 miles to work and back every day without incident. I can hear what's around me just fine thank you.

 

[TheCyclingRooster]

Don't have this month's Cycling Active - can anyone point me towards the item in question?

Regarding listening to music whilst cycling - calm yourself down CyclingRooster. Regular headphones don't make you deaf - that's why you have to spend large amounts of money on noise cancelling variants. If yer average headphones were that well insulated you wouldn't hear other people's music coming out of theirs on the bus now would you?

If you don't like the idea of listening to music or whatever whilst riding, don't do it. Don't start going round telling other people off for doing something they do whilst riding the 20 miles to work and back every day without incident. I can hear what's around me just fine thank you.

Hi Jezston. Yes, www.thehealthybackbag.co.uk