Pick apart the life of the average professional cyclist and you will find a lot of bike riding, yes, but also a whole lot of waiting. Waiting in hotel rooms. Waiting on the bus. Waiting in airports. It’s not surprising that many have made a second career – or at least a highly involved hobby – out of gaming, or simply whiling time away.
But not everybody has the same technique when it comes to making those long hours pass quicker. US rider Sean Quinn, for example, uses it to create: he’s a music man.
Article continues below
Quinn makes his music on a computer with the help of a small midi keyboard, creating beats and using samples – including natural sounds such as the rushing of waves or birdsong. It’s ethereal and melodic and not a million miles away from The Chainsmokers, to this unschooled ear.
“It’s something I love,” he says. “I grew up with it around me and, to me, it just goes adjacent to life. I’m always listening to music, and I always have. If I’m not, I’ll have a song in my head. To me, if I look at my cycling career without the songs that went along with it, it’s so boring.”
Many of us are probably accustomed to having a song, or at least a beat, playing in our heads, while we’re riding, especially on a longer, steadier one. That’s the same for the Los Angeles native, he says, although it’s sometimes a new idea – which isn’t always entirely convenient.
“Every once in a while I’ll get a random idea in my head,” he says, “and you have to pull over immediately and hum it into voice memos, because inspiration is super fleeting. You’ll forget it in two minutes if you don’t basically jot it down.” Sometimes it even happens in races, he says, where stopping is not an option. Usually, though, his mental soundtrack is confined to other artists’ songs during competition.
We chatted to Quinn at last week’s Tour of the Alps, where he was an active presence in the breakaways. He says he takes his computer with him to every race and, for the Grand Tours, even his keyboard.
“EF is great about it,” he says. “All of them encourage me and and listen to my music a bit.” However, while the US team may have a reputation as a bunch of freewheeling, free-thinking creatives, Quinn says he keeps things as professional as he would at any other team.
“The way I’ve made it work, I’ve been really professional in my cycling way of life, and the music doesn’t take away from it, yet. So I think it could be fine with other teams as well. You know, it’s when I’m sitting on the couch that I’m making music – I’m not staying up till 3am DJing raves in April.”
At 25, Quinn might have 10 years or more ahead of him as a pro bike racer. Whenever he hangs up his wheels, he has a good idea of the direction he wants to go in afterwards. Clue: there’s music involved.
“I’d say [for now] it’s still a hobby. I’d hope to make it a career after cycling,” he says. “I have a lot of friends working in the music industry, and who are actually producers themselves as well. So I see what it takes to work at that level.”
One thing he might have to get used to before that happens is being able to listen to his finished music played back. It’s one reason he shies away from ever playing it on the team bus, he says.
“The thing about my own music is I love it when I first come up with the idea, and by the time I finish the production, I don’t like it so much,” Quinn says. “That’s a bridge to cross, and eventually I have to get over that. But yeah, when someone plays my music for me, it’s sometimes a bit of a head bang.”
You can check out Quinn’s music yourself on Spotify, where he has tracks called ‘Hollywood’ and ‘Washed Away’.
Explore More
