Friday 10 May 2013

More lessons from the road.



I have to admit Sarah was right....

My last trip I rode 15,000kms in 5 weeks, and so far this trip I have ridden about 5,000kms in 8 days, and never once in all that time did I listen to music!  Sarah had always been amazed and a bit confused by my not wanting to listen to music.  I can't go a block in my car without the radio on, but I always considered motorcycling different.  You are much more out in the elements as it were.

So with the thought of nothing but straight interstate riding today I did an experiment and tried the music thing.  I had prepped in advance for this eventuality by transferring a copy of all my music to my tablet that sits in my tank bag. 

So volume set to max, music set to shuffle, ear buds in and I am off.  Yes it is a good, if not great experience with a couple of drawbacks: my tablet doesn’t go loud enough to overcome the sound of the bike and the wind( I always wear earplugs when long distance riding), and my headphone buds are really crappy, and painful when trying to wear them for 8 hours or so.

I have a very eclectic taste in music, from techno to Nina Simone, so shuffle is a nice feature.  Not being able to fast forward the occasional heavy metal song that sneaks in is a bit bothersome.  So in order to be able to listen properly it looks like I am going to have to get an ipod, and better ear buds, or look into a new gps/intercom system that will stream it blue tooth to speaker in my helmet.  I will try it again tomorrow as I have 650kms left of interstate to get to Carlsbad New Mexico.  Which might be my last or second to last state decal to get to fill into my pannier map.

I am now just outside Abilene Texas, the incoming weather caused me to skedaddle off the highway into another hotel instead of my target destination the Abilene KOA(Kampgrounds Of America).  It looks like a storm is coming in tonight!!!

Good day riding, bad timing going through Dallas/Fort Worth at 4pm on a Friday, but at least the traffic was moving pretty quickly, unlike Toronto rush hour!!

Late note: I have spent the last hour trying to figure out how to sync my laptop music to my Blackberry Z10.  Couldn't do it!  I did find a work around, and have copied a couple hundred songs over.  The Z10 seems to be much louder than the tablet, so I will give it a try tomorrow.  It will also make getting on and off the bike easier since I won't be tethered to my tank bag!!  It will also be interesting to see how the Z10 battery life does.....  A word of advice, if you are going to attempt this turn all your wireless signals off unless you are in Canada!  Otherwise HUGE roaming fees will trigger!!!!

1 comment:

  1. I suddenly feel a little "passed over."

    I am sure on our bike ride, I extolled the virtues of well selected music. In fact, I even discussed the revelatory/obfuscatory nature of music and landscape in my own blog during my trip a year before ours.

    And you suddenly give the inspiration over to someone else.

    Well, I never ...! and won't ever again ...!

    ReplyDelete