I can't see... can anyone help me!
I had pretty much perfect eyesight until I was in my mid twenties where I found out I needed glasses to 'sharpen things up'. 10 years on my sight is still pretty good but I'm at the point where I'd like to see a little better on night rides or when hammering down descents that are a bit on the sketchy side.
The issue is I'm battling to find a solution that actually works... I need your help!
Words - Mike Boudrie Images - Lana Adams
I'm sure I'm not the only one out there that has this issue. I've tried prescription sunnies and contacts and nothing has quite cut it. I'm pretty lucky as I can get away without wearing glasses while riding. But those that can't... what do you do?
THE ISSUES
Contact Lenses
My preference is contact lenses. They are obviously not dependent on you wearing glasses to see, so if you need to take your sunnies off while climbing or are starting in the dark on a long day and are riding for a while before the sunnies come down you can still see.
The problem I've had is that the contacts dry out in record time from the wind... it's not too bad in the morning if it's cooler, but in summer you'll have dry eyes in minutes, and it's not really practical to be constantly stopping to administer eye drops.
The second issue is sunscreen and sweat in your eyes. When this happens and you're wearing contacts, I can only describe it as blinding pain. I've had to use most of my water on rides just to keep my eyes clear rather than for drinking. Not good.
The final main problem is that on long rides I often find that the contact lens has pretty much glued itself to my eyeball at the end of the ride. It's not a nice feeling, and the first couple of times sent me into a mild panic for a couple of seconds...
Prescription Sunnies.
There's some great ones out there now and I think this has been a pretty good solution for me. I'm not talking about glasses here with a second clip in prescription lens. I'd make these a last resort, I tried some years ago and the basically destroyed my depth prescription. Not ideal.
The ones that have worked for me are genuine full prescription glasses in as flat as possible lens. A throw back to 80's style glasses on the bike has helped this one a lot as the more curved lenses don't get the job done as well.
There's still the issue of wanting to taken them off (like I do) for various reasons...
We recently reviewed some glasses from Dual Eyewear that had a nice 'built in' section that helped people with less than perfect vision read there computer. I neat solution, not really perfect for me with my astigmatism, but will help out many riders out there.
I'd love to hear about how you see in the dark... or at all on the bike. How you get around sunscreen in the eyes, and good hacks for keeping your contacts in shape on long or hot rides.
Drop your ideas in the comments below, Thanks!
LA VELOCITA. REVIEWS.
As we are well into winter everyone is asking me about lights, however, I think you should be riding with front and rear lights all year round, no matter what time of day or night, terrain, country or city, bike paths or roads.