Brett’s fine Nick Cave article got me thinking about music and cycling. We spend lots of time alone on our bikes. The bike is on autopilot, it stays upright from second to second, freeing up our brains to consider anything or nothing. Music might be the only riding companion we have but it has to be the right music.
Being as Pro as possible is not necessarily a good thing. Pros tend to blow through all stop signs and they care not a damn about Rule #62. As adamant as I am about sock length and color, I’m more of a hardliner about Rule #62. It is one Rule I have positively never broken, honest Father. Half my friends do though, oh I see them with their wires and ear buds. I get it, I just don’t ever do it. I want to know what’s coming up the road behind me. I also like to hear the world as I ride but I really want to hear that dog or cement mixer before they are right HERE. And I sometimes enjoy the voices in my head. They get me.
Before you go for a long ride, preplan your music, don’t just turn on the car radio as you motor away to meet your riding friends. A moment of inattention and you could be riding three hours with The Carpenters. My wife and I have a pact when riding together. Neither is allowed to sing aloud whatever terrible jingle or 80’s anthem song is plaguing our brains. Sharing such things is not good for a marriage.
It is the early morning riding where my brain is most susceptible to contamination. Wrung out from a night’s sleep, my brain will absorb anything. I have to saturate my brain with good music before something terrible gets in there; once it is in there, it is not coming out without a fight. I had an early morning teeth cleaning and while captive in the chair, their office music programming played nothing but Cher for thirty minutes. Oh I thought it was amusing at the time. The next day, Cher was still there. I was not amused.
Predawn, rolling along in the truck, bike in the back, something great on the stereo, even if the windshield wipers are on, this is how we get up for a ride. There may only be one song in the head for the next three hours but at least if will be a good one.
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Ah the old tune on the brain demon...
Never, ever, no matter how much your kids beg, watch Chitty Chitty Bang Bang before a ride longer than 2 hours If you do, "Kyle's Mom is a B!tch" from South Park can provide some distraction.
Timely piece. I was stuck with the sound track to the Blues Brothers rolling around my brain for an entire 115 Km mostly solo ride this past Saturday.
A-Merckx! I don't feel connected to the bike/road/environs/myself if I have buds in the ears, so strategically loading the brain buffers to replay the right music during the ride is very useful. For most rides I'm able to roll out from my doorstep, so I load the mental playlist while kitting-up. I can always rely on one of the following:
I've just discovered Racer X. Those get in your head and won't go!
Out on a ride around the Scottish Borders today I found myself humming Wu-Tang lyrics, definitely made hill climbing a tad more aggressive!
Bring the Ruckus.
Even worse than a song is a fragment of one because you can't remember the words. I did a double century last year, having heard a OneRepublic song in the car the previous day. "You've got something I need... Da da da dada da dada da da... And if I only die once, I want do die with youuuuuu!!" Repeated. For 13 hours.
Lordy, and here I thought I was the only one with this affliction. Every ride, and not by any choice of mine, I'll have one song on repeat in the ol' noggin for the duration of the ride. Thankfully who's ever playing the DJ has good taste in music.
There must be an explanation for this which avoids use of the word "dude."
We are not married (together for 16 years though) but we have this Rule even outside riding. The worse the song or jingle, the higher the crime of making it known. Partners in life should not be made to suffer in isolation; this is what we have each other for. But some things must be suffered alone, and this is one of them.
Prep music is key; the more gnarly the ride, the more critical this is.
And prep music can be different from riding music, because riding music needs a rhythm you can jam to when you're in the hurt box going up some Merckx-forsaken climb. Something you can time your breathing to.
But the prep song, especially when you know there is little waiting for you than suffering, is key. Whenever in doubt, its The Ghost of Tom Joad by RATM.
The VMH's choice is Eye of the Tiger or Journey's Don't Stop Believin'.
All good songs, but when it comes to riding - as Gianni would say: "WE'RE VERY FAR APART ON THIS"!