Friday Follies ~~ Music

I’ve always been enchanted by, informed by, and often transported by music.  I come from a musical family.  There was always sound around.  I loved it.  I still do.

When I was able to begin to gain control of what I listened to, my tastes diverged from the “approved” genres.  It could be said, in the very mildest of terms, my parents did not particularly like the stuff I was drawn to.  That didn’t matter much.  I found ways, as all kids do.

I also discovered that I like to do more than just listen to music.  I liked to do things with music playing for them.

In this day of iPods and other portable music devices, it’s kind of hard to remember what it was like to cycle in silence.  But there was a time when music wasn’t terribly portable.  Of course I had the “sound track in my head,” but that somehow, wasn’t as satisfying as actually hearing the stuff.

Once, back in the early 70s, a group of us hired a sound truck to follow us, playing loud rock through its speakers.  For various reasons, this experiment wasn’t repeated.

Thanks to the Space Age, various electronics revolutions, and miniaturization, it became possible to carry the devices of music with us.  My first real attempt at this was a clumsy “portable” transistor radio.  This was problematical.  The thing was about half the size of a lunch box, it only received AM, it only had one earplug, and it was very directional.  In other words, if one did not hold still, the sound turned to static.

Remember the Walkman?  Wow!  Now there was a device.  A good friend of mine demonstrated just how bad an idea that could be.  He had a pair of the (then new) electrostatic earphones, and a Walkman tape player.  He managed to stuff the player down the front of his jersey.  (It wouldn’t fit in his pocket.)  He ran the speaker cable up around his torso, and out the back of the jersey neck.

For a while my friend was really rocking to the sounds of his favorite mix tapes.  But then disaster struck.  On one particularly rough stretch of road, the player dropped out of the bottom of his jersey.  It promptly hit the end of the speaker cable, and started to pendulum.  Before my friend could get stopped, or even realize that he had a problem, the thing swung into the front wheel.  The resultant crash was pretty bad.

I got into the act with a mini disk player.  Wonderful device.  Came out just before the iPods hit.  I got the device specifically to allow me to listen to music while I worked out.

Now in those days I had only a rudimentary idea of how to go about play-listing an exercise routine.  I loaded a disc with a series of high energy stuff.  It was full of the then new (at least to me) techno.  And off I went.

My workout for the day called for a long, lower aerobic level, sustained effort.  I had a route all mapped out in my head.  I would warm up carefully for about seven miles, then move into my intended region, and stay there for several hours.

Okay, I could see several pitfalls, and I thought I’d spotted them all and avoided them.  I would not put the ear-buds in until I was out of town, out into a rural area.  I vowed I would use my mirror religiously once I did turn the sound on.  In that way, I would not increase my risks in high traffic areas.

At first things went according to plan.  I got out of town, settled into my gradual warmup routine, and then, well out in the countryside, I stopped briefly.  I inserted my earbuds, hit {Play}, mounted up, and started into the core of my intended workout.

I was riding through terrain that well matched my purposes.  It was an area with long gentle “rollers.”  The music was good.  I settled into a steady rhythm.

But there was a flaw in my thought.  The selection I’d loaded for my second long track was an extremely long one.  In fact it was a recording from a rave in Europe, and was over two hours long.  The music built up, and I went with it.  About a half hour into that second track I noticed that I was flat out flying!  I was having a complete blast!  This was fun!

But I did realize that I was cranking along a bit too hard.  “Dial it back a bit,”  I said to me.  And I dutifully listened and reduced effort.  At that point I was, at least dimly, aware that I had been exceeding my goal parameters.  In fact, on this lovely cool day, I had worked up quite a sweat, and I was breathing pretty hard.  I spent a half hour consciously disciplining myself, riding slowly, and recovering.  Then I relaxed.

I got lost in the music again.  It was a gorgeous day.  I felt grand.  The scenery was rolling by.  The rollers were almost flat.  I lost track of where I was, and gave myself over to the music and the moment.

The long track ended.  I came to my senses.  I was not where I should be have been.  I was a long way from home.  It was late.  I was…  Well I was tired.  From the standpoint of meeting goals, my workout was totally blown.  And I still had to ride home!

Since then, I’ve learned a thing or two about using music as a background to exercise.  With today’s tools, I can actually set up a play-list that will do what I want to.  I can control it, instead of the other way around.  I rarely (almost never) use music on the road.  But I still remember how much pure fun that ride was.  Stupid, but fun.  Sometimes that’s necessary.

BTW, is anyone up for a Fall Colors Mountain Ride?