In ride entertainment

[foxyrider]

I'm sure most of us have found ourselves looking out for post boxes, enjoying the view, doing a bit of bird watching etc in between the more mundane elements of our rides, navigation, dodging potholes, using our superpowers to second guess the actions of every other road user.

But there's something else that i find myself doing, especially on longer day rides from 'home' and that's singing. I'll be straight here, i can just about hold a tune but i'm no artiste but i'll often find myself singing, not often out loud but it has been known, as i bowl through the countryside. It could be something from the Sound of Music, some 'pop' song, today for example it was Sweets 'Blockbuster' from 1973, not something i've heard played for many a year! I don't seem to have any control over what i start singing to myself but its usually something fairly uplifting or at least rousing, Bohemian Rhapsody has been in the play list more than once!

So what do you do for on bike entertainment? Do you sing to yourself (and maybe unsuspecting cows) and if so what?

[Jdsk]

Do you think that the beat is synchronised with your pedalling?

(I have a physiological anecdote about this but it's better if you say first... )

Jonathan

[Pebble]

Migrant Watch I like to look for the arrivals, there is always something going on. At the moment I am looking out for the Oyster Catches coming back inland, they are down at the sea side at the moment, but they should be appearing up the river end of January.

Seen lots of Field Fares today, reasonable numbers this year. Plenty noisy Pink Foot about, but todays highlight was a field full of Whoopers (proper swans)

[peetee]

Yes, I sing……when my lungs are not otherwise busy turning themselves inside out while I curse at my lack of fitness.
I did once vocally get through sides 3 & 4 of Genesis’ Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, which is less a bunch of songs and more an exploration of where prog rock can venture with weird and wonderful unconventional beats and sounds. Suffice to say anyone listening in when I rode past must have thought I’d escaped the funny farm.
Cycling and that music makes me happy so why not combine it?

[Paulatic]

On my LEJOG I must have gone through my entire repertoire. I seem to have a folk, music hall, or pop song which identified with place names on the road. Think my favourite was seeing the sign for Killiecrankie. Who needs the Corries.

[rjb]

Try doing some mental arithmetic.
When the going gets hard it can take your mind off the pain. Don't ever rely on the answers, they're probably wrong too.
A good one is checking the time on your bike computer then remembering you should have reset it for summer or winter then trying to recall if you should add or subtract an hour to give the correct time.
Ive arrived 2 hours early or should that be late.
The answers obvious when you're relaxed and not stressed out.

[plancashire]

I do wildlife spotting and report back to my wife if she's not riding with me. Hereabouts I see buzzards, an occasional kestrel, rooks, cormorants, hares, rabbits, deer, small scurrying rodents and the sheep keeping the Rhein dykes in order. I never use headphones or similar. Occasionally in summer I come across people with radios in the front basket blaring schlager music.

[Psamathe]

Try doing some mental arithmetic. :wink:
...

I do that a fair bit, working our how many miles home from here or if I go via there and at what speed ...

Ian

[Psamathe]

I do wildlife spotting .... Hereabouts I see buzzards, an occasional kestrel, rooks, cormorants, hares, rabbits, deer, small scurrying rodents and the sheep keeping the Rhein dykes in order. I never use headphones or similar. Occasionally in summer I come across people with radios in the front basket blaring schlager music.

I also mainly wildlife spotting. But it's depressing; despite being very rural (open countryside) the wildlife is getting rarer and rarer. Used to see buzzards every ride along one road but National Grid opened a depot (no planning permission, no mitigation, open countryside) and quickly drove buzzards and everything else away (27/4 floodlighting, generators, etc.).

My wildlife spotting has become more of disappointment as to how denuded the Norfolk countryside has become.

Lots of pheasants though! (currently have 5 mostly living in my garden, 2♂ 3♀).

Ian

[ANTONISH]

I'm mainly spotting potholes.

[Psamathe]

I'm mainly spotting potholes.

Used to do that a lot, reporting them through CTC Fill That Hole app. But even back then there were so many it would really disrupt a ride so IU'd end-up doing different sections on different rides and eventually gave-up.

Plus CUK seem to have dropped their pothole reporting system which seems beyond daft - improving the quality of road surfaces for cyclists seems to me a significant thing CUK could do for cyclists, part of their core activities. The "best" alternative FixMyStreet has issues about offline reporting. A lot of my rides is in minimal or no mobile coverage and it just don't work without a reasonable data signal (i.e. you can't record offline and submit later when back online).

Ian

[foxyrider]

Do you think that the beat is synchronised with your pedalling?

(I have a physiological anecdote about this but it's better if you say first... )

Jonathan

Not usually

[Jdsk]

Thanks

Many years ago we were studying breathing patterns in healthy adult humans during exercise on treadmills and static bikes. The idea arose that pedalling and breathing were synchronised. There's a good reason why this should be the case when running: if they aren't then the diaphragm has to do additional work to stop the piston effect of the abdominal contents on the lungs. But that doesn't apply to seated pedalling.

So we had a quick look at this possible difference. What we found was that the subjects thought that they were synchronised even when they weren't. Which then led on to whether you could simultaneously beat different frequencies with each hand. Most people can immediately do 1:2... but some musicians could do much more complex patterns...

Jonathan

PS: I count downstrokes on my RH pedal on difficult climbs... just 20 more... just 20 more.

[cycle tramp]

Deleted

[eileithyia]

Wildlife watching, scenery watching, other road user watching....
On LEL, singing certainly to get through the night as well as chatting to others when riding with others...