That really was a beautiful weekend of riding in Wales. I have pleasing aches in all the right places.

However, coming to the end of the ride at Nant yr Arian yesterday, we caught up with a group of riders going down the Mark of Zorro. At the bottom of the singletrack, one of the group removed a LAPTOP from their bag so that they could change the music that was blaring out of it!?

I’m a fairly easygoing chap, but music playing out loud when riding? NO. No thank you.

Y00f innit, cannot be more than 2m away from a music source at all times.

Lunacy.

‘ve got all the music I need when i am on the trails. Grouse and other birds, sheep or just lovely silence…

Music players are for th turbo

Would that constitute a ‘rave’?

Could be entertaining watching plod try to catch them…

Srsly, I think this sounds mad, but I’ve been part of groups carrying music into the countryside at various points in my youth.

I suspect this thread has “in my day…” content… 😉

True, it sounds a bit ‘in my day’ (i’m not really that old though!), but I just can’t understand it. Not only are they forcing others to listen to thier music, but from a practical point of view, a crash will kill the laptop!

Maybe there’s a group that goes around recreating YouTube videos of their local trails?

“This one starts with something slow and moody and then morphs into speed metal once you reach the jumpy bit near the bottom”

there was a guy who did teh Marin rough ride a few years back with his phone blasting out all the way round, he was about teh same pace as me too so I kept hearing it

he was a mture fellah, playing peter gabriel and the like!
i remember this as we were going up a rather steep long hill

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OO2PuGz-H8[/video]

Shame they weren’t re-creating the mtber-gets-knocked-over-by-a-gazelle video! I would have set that to music..

I understand listening to music when riding but, only on your own and then only through earphones.

To inflict my poor taste in tunes on innocent riders is poor form and I’d be holding back on my ‘knar’ if I had my laptop in tow.

Kimbers – i pity you having to put up with that. I know it’s a bit of a ‘yoof’ phenomenon to play music loudly as you walk along the street, but I recently saw a couple in their fifties doing the same. Bizarre. Why would you inflict your poor taste on to unwilling listeners?

he was a mture fellah, playing peter gabriel and the like!

BITD, I was deeply opposed to the Criminal Justice Bill (in relation to “sounds wholly or predominantly characterised by the emission of a succession of repetitive beats”).

In this case, however, I’d be happy to see it vigorously enforced. 😉

i remember meeting a couple on the SDW once. they both had ipods, they stopped for something and when starting again went.

“1,2,3, go” and pressed play. i can only assume they had the same playlist!

strange.

It must not, I repeat not, turn into an all-night rave.

Nope, dont get music on the trails full stop. Went for a walk up Butser hill last Sunday to encounter some bloke walking word with big Beats earphones on. WHY?
It was a lovely day, the birds were twittering away and it was just lovely. Why would you want to have a soundtrack of something other than nature (and the A3 nearby)?

I have heard this on Cannock too, speakers mounted on rucksack playing techno. Bit odd, but that’s pisted trails for you.

Bit odd, but that’s pisted trails for you.

Not just trail centres, sadly. Heard some tinny bootsandcatsandbootsandcats “music” being played from someone’s phone mounted on their bars as they rode through the village yesterday.

Of course, I pushed him under a passing tractor. Only fair.

It’s a substitute for a “personality”.

Of course, I pushed him under a passing tractor. Only fair

I would have expected you to have a chap who did that sort of thing for you. Did you use a stick to avoid physical contact?

Was out on my road bike in the Trough of Bowland yesterday and a group of other cyclists 5-6, various ages from approx 20-50 yrs old came the opposite way listening to the Beatles 😯 Made me smile at the time but I was bloody glad I wasn’t following them, it would of done my head in!

I do this. Usually with this:

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V92OBNsQgxU[/video]

Makes me go quicker.

Furtwangler

*Sniggers*

I don’t see the problem, friend of mine has some little speakers on his top tube, it’s great, and a lot safer than headphones. More than three bike lengths away and you can’t hear it anyway so just ride quicker and escape the noise pollution.

Hmmm. Why should I have to ride away (which I did)? They are the ones being inconsiderate to other people’s enjoyment, and probably creating a negative image to other trail users with their ‘noise pollution’.

*Sniggers*

You’re the wurst.

I hate this, I ride my bike to get away from inconsiderate yoofs on the bus etc playing shit music on their shit sounding phones.

i used to occasionaly use my walkman* bitd, i enjoyed it.
tried it a few months ago, and i really didnt. i dont know if its an age thing or not, but id rather hear the sounds of nature these days.

*if you are under 25, its a bit like a massive ipod, but only contains around 90 minutes of music.

I think it’s not so much an age thing, but being self-conscious enough to realise that you shouldn’t annoy others for your own bit of enjoyment. It’s just selfish actually.

I’d certainly rather enjoy the sound of the environment i’m in, and the enjoyable scrabble and scrunch of tyres.

much more importantly, is Nanty back to rideable again? I was up there late last year and from what we saw, from the closed car park, i wasnt sure the trails would survive the felling.

Oh, Nanty is fantastic! I did the Syfydin route so took in all the trails. The only changes are at the end for High as a Kite, which has been clear felled, but the trail is exactly as it was with just a couple of repairs and a mild re-surface in places. It feels very different because it is now exposed though. All of the rest was as it was and really pretty dry (for Wales). The Italian Job and Mark of Zorro don’t appear to have had any recent felling and were great as ever. The ‘technical doubletrack’ on the syfydrin trail were the most enjoyable bits for me I have to say.

That’s stupid.

But I have my headphones plugged in 90% of the time riding, which is also stupid.

All sorts of stupid in this world.

This is what the Killin Mountain Bikers thread should have been about, and justifiably so.

I can’t do the whole earphones when riding but I have been know to sing really badly on the bike, especially on the road.

In many sports this sort of thing is normal, to the point that most Snow helmets have capacity to accommodate some type of headphone and most current snow jackets include iPod type pockets and cable management.

Personally I value the audio feedback as I ride.

As a teenager I would almost never mount a bike without a pair of the loudest headphones and Walkman I could find though and crank whatever crap metal I was listening to at the time to 11.

I find it hard to criticise others for wanting music for their ride, therefore but I can see the point about disturbing others. I got remarkably self conscious about my use of car stereo when I had a convertible for a bit…

Maybe threads like this are what apparently earn STW it’s rep wif da rad kidz as where old mtb’ers come to die?

I’m not a fan…noticed a couple if people doing it at Cannock a few weeks ago. One was an oldish guy blasting out some rubbish hip hop and the others were a couple each playing different bad dance music. I know it’s trail centre abd all that is wrong with modern MTBing as far as many are concerned but I don’t want to hear it. And neither do others judging by the faces people were pulling.

I know my taste in music is crap as far as most people are concerned therefore I don’t inflict it upon others.

syfydrin is probably my favourite ride.

so glad to hear that its not been ruined

vincienup – i’m talking about music through loud speakers, not earphones! I couldn’t give a damn if people want to wear headphones (despite dangers on the road)!

times and places innit. riding with headphones is a big no-no. its dangerous and i also like audio feedback from my bike and the trail. i also like the silence of off piste epics. however, for trail centres id be happy for tunes to be blaring from speakers in the trees! maybe just in certain sections, similar to snowparks and bikeparks in the alps which often have music thumping out! all good fun.

I’ve seen this at Cannock as well.

This bloke rides up with two mini speakers on his bars playing some kind of metal.

The disparate group at the top of the climb who (mostly) did not know each other all had the same ‘what a cock’ expression on their faces – which at least meant a collective laugh was had at the prat.

It’s just attention-seeking.

Is the issue that you didnt like that type of music, or that it was ruining your experience? Do hope hubs also ruin your experience?