Road cycling may not be a pleasurable experience for many shortsighted riders, because ordinary glasses do not stop the wind or flying debris from attacking their eyes from the sides. For contact lens wearers the situation is even worse, as the eyes can easily dry out in the wind and cause them to stick, and become itchy. An ideal solution for cyclists, whether they normally wear eyeglasses or contacts is to try using cycling glasses.
Cycling glasses generally have a design where they wrap around the eyes protecting them from the wind and dust both head on and from the sides. They usually have air vents too, so that they do not mist up when you get hot through exertion. Ordinary cycle glasses are fine for people who wear contact lenses, and there is a huge range of different styles to choose from. More recently, prescription cycling eyewear has come onto the market for people who have defective vision but do not take to contacts.
Prescription, or Rx cycling glasses are now available in three distinct types. The first one involves getting your usual prescription lenses permanently mounted into the frames that you have chosen. It is always worth asking in the store about this option, as some frames will not provide the option of Rx lenses. You can normally have the correcting lenses made up for you with any tint you require, and the result is a pair of bespoke prescription cycling sunglasses.
The second type is a normal pair of cycle glasses to which you can attach Rx inserts. This is like wearing two pairs of lenses, the correcting ones nearest your eyes and hidden behind the stylish cycling sun glasses lenses. With a dark or mirrored tint, other people will not be able to see the Rx lenses behind the shades.
The third option is to get your cycling glasses prescription made into a series of different colored lenses. You will end up with a single frame to which you can attach the various lenses according to the light conditions that you will be riding in. This is by far the best choice for serious cyclists, who want to get the optimum vision during their ride. Different colors are suited to different lighting, so yellow is perfect for low light levels, whereas brown gives good contrast in bright conditions. So ideally, you will get a pair of lenses made up for all the types of lighting you will encounter, and also benefit from the fact that they are vision correcting lenses.
If you are shortsighted and willing to shop around, you will be able to get pretty much whatever style you want in prescription cycle glasses, so that you can look good as well as being able to see the road ahead. There is also the final option, which is to stick with your normal eyeglasses and keep them safe from the dust and grit of cycling by getting a pair of sports cycling goggles to wear over the top of them. So now there is no longer any excuse to go without using the right eyewear when burning up the road on your bike.
