Earplugs

At times like this I wonder, “who am I expecting to read this blog?”  I have no idea.  It’s time for a post about earplugs.

If you ride motorbikes for any length of time you eventually read, are told or just figure out that the wind noise is loud and constant and that you should wear earplugs.  Driving in the city it’s not too bad, but you get to any decent speed and it starts to get LOUD.  That’s assuming your bike isn’t super loud to begin with.

So a lot of us wear earplugs.  I wear a silly amount of armor anyways so adding another thing isn’t too tough.  I use the disposable foam ones, they’ve worked the best of the ones I’ve tried and tend to have a high noise reduction rating (NRR value).  If you put them in right, you can’t see them from head-on, and so you can have lots of confusing exchanges at gas stations.

After all this riding around I’ve learned a better reason to wear earplugs: bugs.  At some point, typically as you’re riding at high speed with semi-trucks looming on every side and winds pushing you around, a bug is going to get into your helmet.  Maybe you have the visor up, maybe it crawled in at your last stop and just decided to start wiggling around, or maybe it found one of a few openings and worked its way in.

At the point I first realize I have company, my thoughts usually go like this:

After the initial panic, I realize I haven’t been stung (YET!).  Typically the bug gets lodged in my cheek, coming in from the visor, and I can just grab my helmet and twist until a channel opens up down my neck and the bug goes free.  Problem solved.

Except for when it’s something smaller and crawling around your ear.  At this point, there is clearly only one conclusion for anyone around my age.

Earplugs, people.

Earplugs.