Oh, and what I forgot to say is that, regardless of my habits at home, I
still prefer bicycling with music playing. When I first got back into
cycling in 1996, I thought it was going to be a great social thing; but I
soon found that cyclists don't strike up conversations very easily. Thus,
my little music rig serves two purposes: 1. It's a conversation piece that
often results in a nightly nod on the trail or road from other cyclists, and
2. It keeps me company when people aren't being friendly and I want to
appear like someone who doesn't care that much!

Actually, it has also made riding with my wife a lot more fun. As much as
we enjoy each other's company, when it's quiet around us, we end up filling
in the silence with nonsense chatter. That gets old and annoying after a
couple of hours of riding. Now, when I crank up the singalong tunes and
turn on the auxilary speaker I've added to the BACK of my bike, we can sing
along and just have a great time without having to work so hard.


"Papa Tom" wrote in message
...
i'm not sure if this is the same thread from a few years ago, so forgive
me if I'm double-dipping.

Two years ago, I rigged up an mp3 player with a speaker that sits on my
handlebars. My biking mix is about 1000 classic pop and rock songs from
the 1920s through the 2000s. Essentially, it's every great singalong song
that was ever recorded. Because most of these songs were popular during
my childhood (60s and 70s) they always bring back the joy I felt when I
rode my bike everywhere as a kid.

For those of you who prefer to hear the music in your head, I understand
that sentiment, too. I own hundreds of CDs and my house is wired for
sound upstairs and down. However, I find that I rarely need to turn on my
home sound system - because all the music from my lifetime is playing in
my head all the time.