Music to Ride to (O RLY?)

Now I'm not one to advocate becoming one of the cycle iPod zombies that various newspapers report on on a slow news day. Riding with your cans on full blast is rather on the silly side. I learnt this harder as any when I was a kid and did a "Starsky" over the bonnet of a white Mondeo that appeared in front of me. Didn't hear the damn thing (I was probably listening to something like Linkin Park- from the angsty teen section). 


Ever since then, I've been a bit more careful. And the bike was fine by the way. But having music on a long ride out definitely a winner. Having that one track to spur you on can get you over the top of that hill. Music is beautiful- "louder than words and bigger than pictures". But what to listen to?

No, really!

For the truly obsessed, there is one pure cycling option- Kraftwerk's "Tour De France Soundtracks". Released in 2003 (yeah, not in the 80s!) it consists of a series of songs around the central theme of Le Tour. These guys love cycling so much they sell cycling jerseys alongside their band t-shirts! It's actually rather good. The video below is "le etape", which comes halfway between cycling music and Underworld's "Born Slippy". It might not be to everyone's taste, but whatever you are doing, listening to this song seems to make it feel faster (probably than it is)

For the rest of us mere mortals who don't have chain lube for blood, there are alternatives. Time to bare my soul and give you my ultimate playlist:


The Warm-up
-Stone Roses- Begging You
-Chemical Brothers- Block Rockin' Beats


On The Flat
-The Avalanches- Frontier Psychiatrist
-Peaches- F*** The Pain Away
-Daft Punk- Derezzed
-Johnny Cash- God's Gonna Cut You Down


For That Massive Hill
-The Prodigy- Spitfire, Firestarter
-Led Zep- When The Levee Breaks


When the Going Gets Hard
-Snow Patrol- The Lightning Strike
-Ennio Moricone- L'Estasi Dell'oro (the finale of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly)




Finishing
-Sigur Ros- Hoppipolla
-Civil Twilight- Letters From The Sky


...and a few more. My entire playlist is on Spotify HERE, and it's not just good for cycling :-)


It's now two weeks until the coast to coast ride, we are still collecting sponsorships, and any suggestions for the epic playlist are more than welcome!