But I am surrounded by a far louder sound: the explosions of Big Audio Dynamite. The band's driving music booms from four speakers strategically placed on my big, 2006 Harley-Davidson Ultra Classic Electra Glide. The rubber is meeting the road on this high-speed run to the sands, but a satellite is connecting with the bike itself. This is a Harley with XM Satellite Radio.

Harley, like several automobile manufacturers, has teamed up with XM to install the subscription satellite service gear on its touring bikes. This bike is equipped with an 80-watt Harman Kardon sound system.

It is a system, I learn even as I pass trailer trucks at high speed, that can overcome all road noise and even the staccato thump of the classic V-Twin engine. And that was with no earpiece, which you can hook into the system when wearing a helmet.

It is logical that satellite radio should be placed aboard a so-called touring bike. These are the biggest motorcycles you see on the road: spacious, hard saddle bags for carrying gear; a large box behind the raised passenger perch; a cowling that covers the front of the bike, protecting legs from the elements; a windshield that deflects wind, rain and bugs that can hit like little bullets.

The speakers are mounted on both sides of the cowl and, in the rear, high up on both sides of the passenger back rest.

CB radio, hands-free cell phone, helmet-to-helmet communication and a CD player compatible with MP3-format discs are also audio options. A digital display at center cowl displays, among other information, the names of performers and the songs being played.

Touring bikes are often used for cruises of hundreds of miles in a day (and long hauls on motorcycles can be grueling), or weeks-long vacations. Because satellite radio offers coast-to-coast coverage, a single station can be tuned in and left on for the duration of the ride. XM offers 150 digital channels with commercial-free music, sports, talk shows, comedy and, in selected areas, advanced traffic and weather reports.

The V-Twin on the Harley (two pistons in cylinders that lean fore and aft in a V), emits a classic, loud thumping sound. It is so distinctive that Harley trademarked it in an attempt to prevent Asian manufacturers from reproducing it to cash in on Harley's status as an American icon.