And if you do why? Only ask, cos a mate can’t believe that I don’t

No. Hearing what is going on around me is part of the appeal of being outdoors. I can understand why people do, but it’s not for me.

Never. To much to listen too outside. If I wanted to shut myself off from it I would take the car

No. If I’m on road I want to be able to hear traffic, if I’m off-road then I want to hear nature.

Occasionally riding, all the time whilst running. Gives me a lift when I need it.

Never. Too much to listen too outside.

Hmm, you say that, all I tend to hear is the constant rustling of my jacket and my heavy breathing. Must be the speed I’m going. 😆

No, just like a bit of peace.

No, prefer to hear what is going on around me.

I think if I ever took leave of my senses and decided to start running I’d probably listen to music, something to block out the screams from my body telling me to not be so bloody stupid.

Only when running as I find it to boring without a distraction and would give up. Only occasionally riding the bike and only away from roads

Never. Around roads and other people, it’s a loss of peripheral awareness which can be downright dangerous. Watching people jump as you run/cycle past them from behind because they have no clue that you are there.

Never understood why you’d want to do it outdoors.
Out on the hills and stuff I want to hear nature.
It’s thinking time; processing time.
Outside, you’re out there to be out there. Putting on headphones puts you back in a little closed environment – you might as well run on a treadmill.

On longer rides yes, maybe only for an hour or so at a time. Natural sounds are great and so is the right music at times. Early in the morning, can’t beat birdsong and the sound of tyres on dirt. But also have great memories of riding along in particular places with certain music on. I think music links to memory and state of mind so strongly that I’d never go on a long ride weekend or trip w/o an MP3 despite only using it maybe 5% of the time.
Found the Cycle Show radio / podcast site recently and have a few interviews on the mp3 for the next overnighter trip, can see it working for tours too, less so for while riding though.

Putting on headphones puts you back in a little closed environment –

For some maybe, or at times yes, but it can add to it imo. I vividly remember riding out of a small town in Montana on a beautiful morning through open ranch land on rolling tracks and popped some music on, something that seemed to come to mind at the time, started singing along and felt incredibly happy, alive, light – a mix of music and place and state of mind. 10 mins later the MP3 was back in the bag. Now there’s a permanent link in mind between a particular song and a very memorable time, it’s like having a photo.

You should try orienteering.
British Orienteering
Orienteering race map/times

I used to when i started running but i found that as i improved and got more serious it was more of a distraction than help.

i sometimes do when I’m commuting but only one ear so i can hear traffic

whitestone – Member

No. If I’m on road I want to be able to hear traffic, if I’m off-road then I want to hear nature

As above..

I was out riding last week and a jogger jumped straight out in front of me,wearing headphones,he never saw me,as he never even looked !,for a short while I was ringing my bell,& eventually whistled,he still never heard me,so I tapped him on the shoulder & he s**t himself..so that’s why I don’t wear em…

He did say sorry !

Enjoy listening to radio 2 if doing a dawn 4-6hr road session (one earphone). Later in the day I’d probably put on a playlist.

Again for long off road rides, music or radio is good company.

Short sessions, just get on with it as simply as possible. Hate faffing with wires etc.

Sometimes I even ride with mates and don’t need music at all!

Every ride if I’m on my own; they’re never on road and I see about 5 walkers/riders per year on the local trails so it’s unlikely I’m going to take out the WI day trip when I come round a corner.

Music whilst riding

A) motivates
B) means I don’t annoy the family at home as I’ve had my fix
C) saves money as its only when I ride without I hear the graunching from the bike!

Heading out now and music ready to go….

I can’t run with headphones. I ruins my breathing and I feel like I am having an athsma attack or what I assume one of those feels like.

Never really needed to use them though more than happy running and cycling without.

Tried it and hated it on mtb/road bikes. Definitely while running as too boring otherwise. Love it while snowboarding.

No, I don’t like the distraction really

On the road I listen to music. It’s about the only time I do listen to music actually. Dunno why, just always have.

Occasionally on road or commuting. Always when jogging, which isn’t that often either. Tried it off-road but never liked it. Don’t know why, just seemed like I wasn’t really listening so what was the point?

Yes I don’t really listen to it that much, it’s rare I could tell you the preceding song, but I miss it if it’s not there! 😕

Yes, audiobooks whilst MTB alone, with only one earphone in though, so I’m aware of my surroundings. Have listened to music before now but you really need both earphones in, and having been caught by other MTB-ers on a single track climb.. I was totally unaware until I faltered and found them following me, slightly embarrassing!

Tried listening to music once at the end of a long training ride. Rage Against The Machine came on, I put the hammer down and clipped a fence post at full pelt. Mashed my little finger and limped home feeling a bit sorry for myself.

Only off road. This for me:

http://theunexplained.tv/

yup I listen to music every single ride, can’t imagine not doing so. I love music and for the me some of the attraction of cycling is time alone listening to tunes. For it has to be DnB or dubstep or whatever you want to call it, big fat eff off tunes that make me cycle like a tour winner, espicially on the downhill, the faster the better.

Never but then I even hate music/radio in the car unless on v. Long tedious journeys. I have one mate who has to have sport radio on whatever. If we drive to a ride in my car he farts around with my radio until it is receiving some sport or other. I am sure we had Radio Ulan Bator with the All Mongolian Tiddlywinks Championship one week . He was happy. I was not.

running always and yes I’ve more than tried orienteering

cycling no because I hate that i find running without a distraction something i dislike

swimming god it is so so boring I love podcasts and music thank god for waterproof technology

the gym – the alternative is whatever tv station with crap subtitles and mtv

*old enough to have owned an original walkman and could boulder stuff no probs

Nope. Don’t even wear a watch.

It’s really nice not having technology cluttering things for and hour or so.

No. I need to be able to hear to judge the likelihood/severity of bike or body damage when I fall off.

I used to all the time. Good for motivation. And very occasionally do now on the mtb. When I used to commute I would listen on the tow paths but not on the road, despite being able to hear cars over the earphones.

The thing that stopped me was a massive blow out on a night ride. I was on a long descent, music blaring and the tube exploded like a shotgun blast. Bloody terrified me. I’d rolled the tyre off on a corner and it was rubbing on the frame. Could have been nasty and I would have heard it were it not for me blasting RATM

Yeah, whenever I’m riding solo and off-road.

RATM, QOTSA, Metalica, Queen or Foo Fighters if I want to go mad and hurt myself…

Sometimes I might play a little Bob Dillan and daydream my way around at ‘comfy speed’ – especially if it’s raining, something about cruising about the Forrest in the pouring rain that lends itself to Bob Dillan for me.

I started enjoying it so much I’d ‘forget’ to message my mates about riding sometimes hoping they’d have a weekend off 😉 not anymore though.

I listen to…
the sound of birdsong and wild boar running out from the undergrowth when MTBing…
the swish swish swish of snow when skiing…
the din of traffic when on the roadbike…
nothing when running, cos I don’t run, but if I did C25K, I’d listen to the C25K podcast thing since I think it tells you what to do when

No, just no.

Yep. When running and often when riding.
Despite other’s reservations, when I was biking in London a lot I preferred tunes than car sounds – just grew an extra set of eyes and became ultra aware of what cars were doing. Generally if you can keep up most of the time things are fine, plus I usually took detours off major arteries to avoid traffic as much as possible. Think circuits of richmond park or similar quieter roads.
Out on the trails (south england and south west) I sometimes wear them, if I’m heading out to churn through some miles and at a decent pace…couple of hours with no stops sort of thing, a few tunes help to keep things ticking over otherwise as above: nice to be out and hear everything around. Certainly when I’ve been riding in the alps it’s the quiet on the hills which is awesome 🙂
I should point out I’m usually alone when riding like this, when as part of a group; no tunes.

I always listen to music on every ride, I’ll some times pull the earphones out mid-ride though and have a quiet session.

Sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t. Really depends on whether I remember to turn on my iPod. I’ve done long rides with my headphones in but nothing on. I guess that just indicates how low I have the volume and how it is just a little background sound. As Jameso said there are rides and skiing runs I’ve done where the music is an integral part of the experience.