In my previous post I wrote about my vision issues. I worked more on this issue, culminating in extensive testing on last Sunday's ride, and I have identified a major contributor. When the corrective lens is too close to the eye, chaos ensues. That is all this post is about, so if you are not visually challenged you might want to skip this post.
A brief history of my eyeballs
When I started riding I was already wearing contacts, only for cosmetic reasons. All I needed were some sunglasses to keep my eyes from drying out. When I figured out that cheap, dime store sunglasses didn't cut it I tried a fancy pair of Smith sunglasses, with interchangeable colors. Picked them up at Surf N Sea in Haleiwa after one of Pattie's triathlon practices. Better, but dry, burning eyes were not banished, so in time I moved on the a full frontal wrap design by Oakley. Probably saw them used at the Tour de France. Still had problems.
On a typical ride I would develop dry, painful eyes around thirty minutes in, followed by a period of excessive, blinding tears, then settle down for an hour or two. On long rides the dryness would return, making the finish miserable due to pain and blurred vision. Several times the tearing was so intense it washed the lens out of my eye. Lucky for me it always stuck to the back of the sunglasses lens and I could retrieve it, but I considered these episodes a crash condition. Not good.
Eventually I gave up riding with contacts and just used my everyday glasses. It wasn't long until the entire ritual surrounding contacts seemed out of place in my life, so I gave them up.
I think it was when I started doing triathlon that I decided my eyes needed more protection from the wind. Rudy Project began advertising about corrective sunglasses, so I looked into them. (No pun intended, but, hey, not bad.) Turned out my correction is too high for their corrective lenses, but they did offer an optical insert that fits behind normal sunglasses. I went for that, and yes, they cost a pile of money.
One more cool thing about Rudy Project: readers. Bi-focal lenses. I had been disappointed to learn I could not read my Garmin head unit with my sunglasses -- a set of reader colored lenses fixed that. More money.
There was always a problem with my Rudys. The correction was never quite 20/20. I never did a test but I would guess they were around 20/70. I took them to my optometrist and he said that on his measuring tool they were spot on, but on me they did not produce the same sharpness as my regular glasses. Plenty good enough to see where I was going, but it was hard to read street signs or make out people's faces. I could make the image sharp by moving the glasses further away from my face. Further than the nose piece could accommodate. Not a viable solution.
Another issue that turned up every now and again was double vision. Typically at the end of a long ride. The road center-line would split into two diverging lines. Manhole covers would be doubled, one on top of the other. Blinking helped. Closing one eye -- either eye -- would eliminate the shadow image.
On my tri bike in aero position I had another problem. The top edge of the frame cut right across my field of vision. When I fiddled with the nose piece to raise them, the double vision struck with a vengeance. Last year I was able to adapt, as I recall riding Pineapple Hill and Honu with no vision issues. I think it was more a case of putting up with it than fixing it.
At the start of this season I went on a campaign to find a solution. Roka was highly recommended, so I wrote to them and was informed that their corrective road glasses did not go that high. Oakley corrective glasses cost a small fortune, and they too do not support my numbers. I hit a dead-end.
During my break from training I rode with Pattie's group, and since we were going slow and stopping to look at stuff I decided to wear my regular, everyday glasses. Wow, it was so nice to see everything so clearly! This is what I wanted from my sunglasses.
Then inspiration struck. My Rudy aero helmet came with a visor. I did try it once, with my Rudy glasses, and it would not fit. Not even close. But what about my everyday glasses? That was the testing I did last weekend, using two different pair. The results were conclusive.
With the visor I was immediately pleased with how large my field of vision was. No blocking line across the top. At first I thought the glasses fit fine, until I began to feel an unusual pressure on my nose, above where the nose pads normally hit. I figured the visor was pressing against the glasses, pressing them back and up a little. It wasn't long before double vision showed up.
Back at the car I made some adjustments, eventually removing the visor. My eyes felt better, and no double vision. Without the visor I fear than the wind will be an issue, but for now, this is the best solution. I also tried my not-so-aero helmet, and that was good, too.
To summarize, the Rudy sunglasses always had the corrective lens insert too close to my eyes. Everyday glasses with the helmet visor also caused focus issues due to the visor pressing the glasses back and up. Everyday glasses in the correct position work best, but wind may be an issue. I'll know more after tomorrow's time trial.
That's it for now.
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