Is it okay to play music from a speaker on group rides?

Question: A newer guy in our bike club mounted a Bluetooth speaker on his bars and plays classic rock for our entire rides. About half the group loves it and sings along. I hate it, and I feel like a grump for hating it. Part of why I ride is to hear the birds, the tires humming and my friends telling the same stories they told last month. Now every ride has a soundtrack I didn’t ask for. Nobody else has complained, so maybe the problem is me. Is there any etiquette here, or did I just get old? —Dennis W.

RBR’S STAN PURDUM REPLIES: I’m with you on this one, except I wouldn’t feel like a grump for not wanting music blaring on a group ride; I’d feel like I was being assaulted!

I’m convinced that when it comes to having a soundtrack in the background of one’s activities — or even in the foreground — the general population is divided into two groups: those that want it and those that don’t, and I’m definitely in the latter group.

One of our cars is a Chevy, and while it has many features that I like, there’s one that I hate: When I first start the engine, the radio comes on. And there’s no direct way to permanently disable the radio from powering on at startup. There are some workarounds, but they are not satisfactory. I do sometimes want the radio on after I’m on the road, but I don’t want the car to make the decision about when it comes on. My dislike of this feature is enough to keep me a Ford man.

Okay. I’m done venting. But maybe this shows you that you are neither the problem nor are you suddenly getting old.

This does seem like a dilemma where there ought to be some existing ride etiquette, but if half your group is singing along, maybe there’s not. But here are three things I’d try:

One is the one-to-one approach. Speak to the offender privately and remind him that group rides require hearing verbal calls like “car back” or warnings about tire-eating holes in the payment, and that loud music can cause riders to miss those cues. If he wants to keep listening, you could suggest that he use an earbud in one ear or use bone conduction headphones.

Another is the one-to-club approach. If half of the riders aren’t singing along, it’s a pretty good bet that some of them feel as you do. You could inquire with other riders, and if you find support for your position, you could brainstorm a solution together.

This approach reminds me of when some members of a bike club I’m familiar with first turned up on ebikes for club rides. Some of those riders seemed to want to turn every ride into a race, overriding the rides’ social aspects. But through the club’s normal channels of discussion, the members soon figured out what was good ebike-rider behavior and what was not, and the ebikers got the message and learned how to fit themselves appropriately into the rides.

A third approach is to force the issue. At the next club meeting, make a proposal that the club start offering some rides that are “soundtrack free.” This proposal might not fly by itself, but as an official proposal, it could lead to the club discussing the matter and coming up with a policy or etiquette statement. At minimum, it may prompt the guy with the speaker to shut it off on his own.

This suggested proposal reminds me of a school I once attended where the dining hall had a habit of serving bacon one morning and eggs the next. Then at a meeting with the administration, a fellow student asked, “Could we have breakfast just every other morning so we can have bacon and eggs together?” Obviously, he wasn’t serious about the every-other-morning request, but the snarkiness of his question did communicate to the administrator the student dissatisfaction and resulted in an improvement in our breakfast menu.

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Stan Purdum has ridden several long-distance bike trips, including an across-America ride recounted in his book Roll Around Heaven All Day, and a trek on U.S. 62, from Niagara Falls, New York, to El Paso, Texas, the subject of his book Playing in Traffic. Stan, a freelance writer and editor, lives in Ohio. See more at www.StanPurdum.com.