You really haven't lived until you've zipped around on a bike while listening to music. Well, maybe you have, but this extraordinary activity is readily available with a flash MP3 player, a bike, and your neighborhood road.

Now, riding on busy streets with headphones on isn't the safest idea, but if you find a location that has little (or no) traffic, you'll find it to be a surreal experience. If you want to avoid cars altogether, try mountain biking or, of course, the stationary bike at the gym.

(Recommended album to go with this article: Kraftwerk's Tour de France Soundtracks).

MobiBlu DAH-1500i

Better known as the "Cube," this supercompact player has heads turning everywhere. The volume and track-skip functions are easy to maneuver while in motion; however, browsing the artist/album screen can be tricky since the screen is so small. The design of its headphones (which come with the player) is ingenious: They double as a lanyard. This positions the player conveniently on your
chest, which works well for all activities.

MSRP: $100 512MB, $130 1GB

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Oakley Thump

We've featured this many times before, but we'd be fooling ourselves if we left it out of the biking category. Endorsed by the pavement king himself, Lance Armstrong, these sunglasses/MP3 player/headphones are truly one of a kind. With earbuds built directly into the frames, nasty wires stay out of your way (a new development for MP3 players). As far as sound quality, Oakley Thumps are comparable to lower-end earbuds, such as Apple In-Ear headphones.

MSRP: $395 256MB, $495 512MB

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iPod Shuffle

The Shuffle has received a lot of criticism among us CNETers for its lack of a screen, but there's no denying that its compact size is a wonder of science (and for biking, having a lightweight player is very important). The absent LCD shouldn't be an issue in this case anyway, since you should be focusing on the road, not your player's navigation menu. As for transferring music, its integration with iTunes stands above other flash players in its class. The Autofill function enables you to easily create playlists by genre type, most played, and so on. With or without a screen, we recommend the Shuffle (with the armband) for your next biking adventure.

MSRP: $99 512MB, $129 1GB

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iRiver T10

Remember the iRiver iFP-790? It came out more than a year ago, and it's still one of our top flash players. Well, not for long. It will soon be replaced by the new and improved iRiver T10, which hits stores in August. It's the futuristic version of the 790, with a color screen and Janus support (in other words, it's compatible with portable subscription services such as Napster, Rhapsody, and Yahoo). The armband and sturdy carabiner-like ring make it the ideal player for exercising.

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MSRP: $150 512MB, $200 1GB

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Shure E3c

OK, this isn't an MP3 Player, but we decided to throw the Shure E3c into the mix because it's important to have the right headphones when biking. Aside from the Oakley Thump and MobiBlu (above), most MP3 players don't come with good headphones. In that case, we recommend these Shure earbuds. Its sound-isolating technology keeps the sound in tight, which allows for more bass and dramatically improves the sound quality. It's time you replaced your generic in-ear models (like the ones that came with your iPod) with the E3c (E4c and E5c are also available).

MSRP: $199

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