Earplugs

Last season I damn near had to fight with Jake everytime he went on track to put his foam plugs in. Then his mom took him and had some custom plugs fitted and now he wouldn't think of going out without them. He also had a hard time keeping the foam plugs in place. Tdub

 

There's a plethora of ear plugs to choose from. I've worked rotating shifts for so long that I've become addicted to sleeping with them. An hour after I get home from work and lay down to go to sleep, the neighbor wants to cut his grass or the damn ankle-biter next door, no not Chip, wants to bark insistently because the owner leaves it out side when she goes to work, etc... It’s nearly impossible for me to get a good “days” sleep when I’m working the midnight shift without some help from Ambien. My point is that I’ve used at least 50 different kinds of ear plugs.

I had one set of custom plugs made, at the track, but I can’t use them. They were made from a much harder material than the foam ones and they could be quite painful. They were great for just having them in, but if I slept on my side, the pressure from the pillow would cause me to wake up with a bit of pain. The same went for wearing a helmet. The little bit of extra pressure that the helmet applied to my ear area was enough to bother the shit out of my ear.

Having said all that, the foam ones come in a variety of densities. The harder yellow ones block out the most sound, but can be a little more annoying than the others. Either way, I wouldn’t ride without them. I’m in my 30’s and I already have hearing loss to the point that it affects my everyday life. I always have to ask people to repeat themselves, I can’t here voices if there’s a lot of back ground noise, I have to crank up the volume on the TV if I want to hear what the hell they’re saying. Like when I watch Motogp and they cut the interview with the correspondent in the garages, I can’t here a thing that guys saying over the bikes whizzing byJ

Anyone who rides without them is quite simply put, an idiot. And I agree with most other people when they say that the blocking out of all the ambient noise actually helps you hear what your bike is doing and allows you to better concentrate on your riding.

My $.02

 

For those that say they the foam ones are uncomfortable, it is most likely that you aren't putting them in correctly. I used to have issues and have them back out now and again. Last year I got into shooting and found a video from one of the manufacturers about how to put them in correctly. You really need to make them small and get them in all the way and let them expand. Now they work a LOT better and never even come close to coming out. It usually takes a deliberate effort to get them out.

 

Put a small dab of water on them after you ball them up nice and tight, they go right in no problem and seal up great.