Posted by: RAHrider
When I ride solo in the woods, a speaker is a great way to ward off the animals. I wouldn't bother with it on a place like fromme but when I'm on a desolate trail on my own, I enjoy bringing some music. Headphones are a pain, and also increase your risk of an animal encounter, that is actually how a runner died in Canmore a few years back. People who bring a speaker on a group ride are idiots, unless everyone is an idiot in your group, then it's a party? Somewhere like whistler or fromme where you are running into people constantly and and where everyone is on the same climb trail is just ignorant. If I run into someone for 20 seconds and they hear Neal diamond for a few bars, I don't think it's a big deal. A train of mtb bros with poor etiquette would ruin my ride far more than a solo rider playing niel young or massive attack.
I do try to have all genres on my riding Playlist so that everyone is represented. I also skip the gangsta rap with lots of swearing when I'm riding near someone else. But if one of the Neil's is playing I turn it up - just kidding, my speaker is always at max. In case someonee is getting enraged right now, I'm kidding of course.
The other thing I find a speaker good for is dog walkers up on my gravel bike around ubc. Those guys always seem to jump when you call out to let them know you are coming. It seems David bowie is less alarming for them. Black sabath was a bit too much though. The heavy guitars seemed to make some of the dog walkers uneasy. Good thing I didn't have DMX swearing f$&%ing n÷#ger this and that!
Some hikers on Vancouver Island scared off a stalking cougar by playing Metallica on their phone. So there are actually reasons to choose aggressive music.
