I have trouble letting go and enjoying the ride without music to distract. I get all whiney; 'Ow, my calves! Oh, my lungs are burning! I gotta cut the ride short and do important stuff... GAWD work pissed me off, **** this ****! I still suck at this, I will never get better... I never should have left bed. This is dangerous, I am going to break my neck. I look stupid. I feel like a complete noob. I am embarrassing myself. This is too hard...'
It goes away, and instincts take over. I second guess a lot less, I loosen up, and actually concentrate much more. I may consider going without music on the descents, since I really focus when stuff is technical and more dangerous. The climb (first half of my ride) blows. That is when I constantly want to turn around and say '**** it'. Music lets me just pump it all out, it's a nice distraction
In terms of what I listen to? Pandora chooses specifics. Generally, it is what I am in the mood for, and I have a wide range of tastes. Dubstep is good for riding, but lack of variety made me get sick of the Pandora mix. Blues and Jazz is what I have been on lately, seeded by the Cowboy Beebop soundtrack. Coltrane, Davis, Monk, Mingus... you know, the GOOD stuff
Put on a Grateful Dead seed the last ride, that had some really awesome stuff. I will sometimes listen to my Tool seed when I am all emo feeling, Korn or Nine Inch Nails seed when I am all *****y feeling, and my Amon Tobin/
Post Rock seed when I am feeling all existential and need some room and a canvas to help me think stuff over. I started biking with my Gorillaz seed, and switched between that and my Aphex Twin/ Crystal Method seeded station. I haven't touched my soundtrack seeds (everything from MIDI to fully orchestrated and lots in between) for biking yet, too slow. I use them extensively for painting and artwork though. The Grateful Dead station had the slowest stuff yet, but I think I was in the mood for it cause it didn't slow me down
Favorite is totally dependent on the day