Quote:
Originally Posted by
Jacob24 
I just have one speaker in on the side of my head not facing the road, I can listen and hear traffic.
In my TransAmerica tour while crossing Kansas I was in headwinds and cross winds making about 5 mph for several days. To take my mind off the fact I was on the flattest of flat and going nowhere, I started listening to to the audio books. I bought a single ear bud. I wore a cap that blocked the sound of the wind from the earbud. I found that I could still hear the cars and trucks just as far away as if I were not listening to anything. One day without wind I listened to finish up a book, and found I could hear the vehicles when they were over a mile behind me. I think wearing two headphones in your ear would be a bit crazy. In Kansas the sight lines are really long so people can see me, and I can see them using my mirror (never ride without one) so it did not feel unsafe.
I found the books were not very distracting. I had pretty much no recall of anything that was said because I was putting much more concentration into all the aspects of riding. But they did distract me enough that the frustration with struggling to get 35 miles per day was not as much.
I also listened to audio books while on the Great Allegheny Passage and C&O. Since that is a bike path and I didn't have to worry about cars, I got a lot more out of the books, and could remember parts.