Trail Noise.I'll be the first one to say music is necessary a lot of the time. I just can't do the Headphones thing while I'm riding. There's already too much going on for me to take in. Everyone has their own pedantic trail routines, mountain biking probably has more opinions per capita than the rest of the world combined.On to the goods; This Mach 5.7 corners like a indy car, I can't get enough of it. As a fairly aggressive rider I've always been wary of carbon fiber bikes. I know what the R/D has proven in terms of advantages, but it still took me awhile to get my head around it. Once I started getting used to the bike my concerns faded away quickly. I've ridden a lot of bikes throughout the better times of my life and there's one thing that I've noticed about the whole line of Pivot's suspension bikes. As soon as you get in the cockpit they almost have a feeling of restlessness under you. It's like the bike's a race horse that's been locked up in the barn living off coffee for weeks with a beautiful view of the race track. The bikes just want to snap into action and charge! I wear myself out daily obeying the bike till it inevitably gets the best of me. Needless to say I love this bike, everything from the climbs to the descends I can't help but having fun. I think that's what its all about.