Whether you cycle on the roads or off road, one of the best items of gear you can invest in is a decent pair of cycling glasses. There are several good reasons to get a pair, but the main one, as always, is safety. This is especially true if you suffer from defective vision and would require prescription glasses to drive a motor vehicle. In this case you should be correcting your vision when cycling also. You can find very stylish cycle glasses which also allow you to use prescription lenses, so you will look cool and be able to see where you are going!
One of the problems for people who wear normal corrective eyeglasses is that when they ride, the wind swirls around the frames and into their eyes. This can be a real problem as it causes the eyes to fill with tears, which can affect vision. Fortunately, the best cycling glasses are designed with this in mind, and the frames wrap around the head to protect your eyes from the wind. Many types provide a snug fit over the face so that wind cannot enter from above or below either. These styles also have air holes so that they do not “fog up” when you are working hard pedalling uphill, for example.
One of the main dangers on the road for cyclists – more so for the majority who have good vision – is small objects hitting the eyes. A sudden strike to the eye can obviously cause damage in its own right, but will also take your concentration off the road, possibly causing you to swerve or have an accident. When riding without eye protection, the usual suspects will be dirt and particulates blown around by faster moving cars and trucks; various other debris thrown up from the road surface; and of course flying bugs and insects, which always seem to relish the opportunity to hurl themselves at full speed right into your eyes!
Road cycling glasses will, at a stroke, eliminate all these dangers. Just remember though that they are not built to be indestructible. They are made from hard wearing shatterproof polycarbonate, so they should give good protection against the usual small objects such as flying gravel catapulted up by car tires.
Another important benefit, especially to people who ride often, is protection from the sun. Most ordinary sungasses will provide satisfactory shielding from type A ultraviolet radiation. If you are out on the road for hours at a time, you will need better coverage though, so it is best to opt for cycling sun glasses that will shield your eyes from UVA but also UVB and UVC radiation. You only get one pair of eyes so lavishing attention to protect them properly will reward you in the long run, since the sun’s rays can otherwise easily cause irreparable damage to your vision. It is also well worth realizing that UV rays are still there even when it is cloudy, so some of the well-known brands offer UV-protective layers on their ranges of cycling glasses designed for lower visibility conditions; as well as on their sunglasses ranges.
So those are some of the eye safety benefits of getting yourself a good pair of cycling glasses. And of course, apart from shielding you from lurking dangers they also look really cool!
