Wearing Glasses On The Bike

I’ve worn glasses in my day-to-day life for about 25 years. With astigmatism and a total inability to focus my own eyes thanks to a side-effect of my diabetes, I rely completely on my glasses and have a fairly complex prescription (though I won’t bore you with the specifics). The point is, glasses have simply been a part of me for the majority of my life.

One result of this dependency was that when I took up cycling more regularly about 20 years ago – at first for a bit of extra exercise, then as a hobby, and now more as a lifestyle (or perhaps addiction) – I assumed it was best to just wear my glasses while on the bike. It doesn’t usually seem too bad: occasionally my glasses get a bit slippery when I start to sweat, and they certainly fog up now and then, which was annoying. But I didn’t really consider switching for a while.

Now that my cycling can be a bit more intense and a bit more frequent, I get more uncomfortable in my glasses. I know there are alternatives. But the fact is, the massive selection of protective, athletic glasses, prescription sunglasses, and even eyewear made specifically for cycling can be a bit overwhelming. It seems like everyone I ask has a different recommendation, and I could never figure out which alternative corrective vision option seemed best.

More Choice These Days…

Over the years I’ve been riding about with my specs on, however, more options have become available. The first option I really explored in depth was prescription sunglasses, as even popular brands like Oakley now offer excellent sunnies which are appropriate for sport (a good friend reviewed some here). But, while these lenses can be comfortable and can certainly be great for vision correction, the bottom line is, they’re expensive to replace, meaning you’re entirely dependent on a single pair.

Instead, I decided to think about contact lenses, and looked at acuvue.co.uk, for prescription contact lenses. All those years ago, when I first started wearing my ever-so-complex specs, I didn’t think I’d be able to find contact lenses which fitted the bill- hence my reliance on glasses! Also, I wasn’t sure how comfy they would be.

However, while I still often wear glasses in my day-to-day life, contacts have made significant strides over the years. There are now various lenses for various needs, designed to keep your eyes from drying out, while providing complete vision correction and, most importantly, staying put without irritation. My own varifocal optical miracles can now be replaced by a pair of contacts which enable me to wear a normal pair of sunnies over the top, or just get a tan without white stripes on the side of my head!

Of course, different people prefer different solutions. But given that glasses can slip and fog up, and that prescription sports goggles and glasses can be clunky and expensive (not to mention they can also limit your peripheral vision and fog up themselves), contact lenses are certainly worth looking into if you’re a regular cyclist.