RideBikes!
I bicycle, rain or shine, to work every day. In the wet, I clip on a set of race fenders, and Bob’s your uncle! I have experimented with the Sansa in this arduous high wind situation. Note that I am a professional Sansa listener on a closed course, with safety crew following in the sag van. Don’t try this at home, kids!
Well, open ear buds are terrible, as they effectively interfere with ambient sound. One is too tempted to crank up the volume in order to hear, and that UFO following you too closely can’t be heard properly.
Right. Refilled bottles, lubed the chain, and back on the road. Donned iMetal 490s earbuds (made for sansa) and cranked away past the peloton, looked over the shoulder, and found that the earbuds block most of the wind noise while riding fast. Could hear that the sag van had a click-click sound from a fresh nail in the tire. Pulled over and helped them change tire. (See? A good cyclist has to do the opposite for his crew once in a while.) With no input to the buds, they are an excellent wind noise buffer- it’s far easier to hear traffic with them inserted.
Testing again. Note that the display issue is utterly futile on the handlebars. Poking wee clips buttons and trying to read the display (2GB in daylight is visible), missed turn, flipped bike over, landed next to cow. Van crew helped retrue front wheel, removed sod and mud from my cleats, now they have incriminating video ready for YouTube.
Now for the audio test. Had to clean blades of grass from the Clip. Off we go. Found the Clip attaches readily to the helmet strap, like it best on my neck, with the cord stuffed in the jersey. Brought up the volume slightly…ah, very nice at low volume, and I hear the ambient sounds well. As a fellow cyclist rides up, he is laughing, pointing at my head.
“Ah, you see the new Sansa Clip!” I yell over to him, “We are doing official performance testing!”
I note with amazement, he’s still pointing at my head. He’s wearing…a dangly white cord…an industrial spy! He’s wearing an iPod shuffle. He sees my surprise, and realizing that I’m testing, he tries to stuff his iPod into his jersey. He unplugs, and stuffs the wires in his helmet liner. Now he’s pointing to the rear.
Ah, a police car with flashing lights.
Thankfully, bacause of the ear buds, I heard his approach easily, without needing a mirror. Perhaps, these are a new safety device too!
We both pull over and compare the cool audio devices. The iPod rider is impressed with the Clip’s display. So is the officer. He works bicycle patrol occasionally too, and notes that the display is indeed legible in the sunlight. I note the bicycle rack on his trunk.
“You should get one of these toys!” I suggested to him.
“Here’s my number,” he said, handing us both a ticket.
Bob :smileyvery-happy:
