By Matthew Weaver
If you want share the delights of cycle ride try podcasting from the saddle and mapping the results.
Last month I tried filming on a bicycle so this time I thought I would have a go at podcasting. It's a lot more straightforward. You don't need to strap any fancy equipment to your bike. If you have an iPhone and a free Audioboo account you can record and publish a mini podcast anywhere.
And one of the clever things about Audioboo is that each recording is geo-tagged so you can plot them on a map. So here's a kind of sound map of a cycle ride I took a couple of weeks ago from Banbury to Hockley Heath, near Birmingham.
The six bike symbols are audio clips - of a minute-or-so long. They start at Banbury market with the sound of strawberry sellers in the background, and move on to Banbury Cross where I got so excited that I foolishly started to sing the nursery rhyme. Next I got a bit lost near a Roman road, and then I started enthusing about the delights of the Oxfordshire countryside. Later there's a whinge about disused railways as cycle paths and finally cycling over a canal aqueduct.
I wanted to described the finish - arriving for a barbecue at Hockley Heath, but by then the phone battery had run out. I also wanted to get a recording of a Polo match I saw on the way, but I couldn't because the phone was too busy uploading one of the other recordings. But I did manage a picture.
On my way back from the trip I crashed into a jogger on the Regent's Canal towpath. We both survived unscathed, but my iPhone was smashed. It looks terrible but still works.
Since getting back I've found that many other audioboo users have also discovered the delights of publishing recordings from bike trips. In some cases while riding along.
Chumpster for example shares the glories of a cycle path in Leith in Edinburgh, in a windy but enthusiastic recording.
Similarly Gifttonature enthuses about cycle routes as "linear nature reserves" on the Isle of Wight.
NerdAlert is altogether more relaxed as he shares the joy of a trippy cycle in a suburb of Portland, Oregon. "I don't think anything in this part of town sucks", he says.
Grantpodelco relays the satisfaction of "conquering the hill of doom" on his 40th birthday at the top of a summit in Prague.
While Jason Cobb stops to gloat about leading the way in a bike race.
And Cyclehaiku shares her quest for a relaxing cycle in London.
The pattern on these recordings is that they all express a giddy excitement for bike riding. All seem high on the drug of cycling, my own included. I could find few negative bicycle-related audioboos. Is there something about cycling that makes us want to share our enthusiasm with others?
• To hear more cycle babble check out the Guardian's bike podcast.
This piece originally appeared in The Guardian.
Help us change the world - DONATE NOW!
Please note that comments will remain open for only 14 days after the article is posted. While previous comments will remain visible, attempts to post new comments after this period will fail. This helps stop comment spam, so your forebearance is appreciated.
The Worldchanging comments are meant to be used for further exploration and evaluation of the ideas covered in our posts. Please note that, while constructive disagreement is fine, insults and abuse are not, and will result in the comment being deleted and a likely ban from commenting. We will also delete at will and without warning comments we believe are designed to disrupt a conversation rather than contribute to it. In short, we'll kill troll posts.
Finally, please note that comments which simply repost copyrighted works or commercial messages will be summarily deleted.
