Glasses vs. contacts while biking?

If there are any Chainlinkers who wear both glasses and contacts, do you have a preference for which to use while biking?

The other day, while biking with sunglasses, I noticed that when I look over my left shoulder there's a considerable "gap" between the edge of my sunglasses and the edge of my peripheral vision. I thought, whoa, if I were wearing glasses I would have a "blind spot." (I wear contacts.)

I also wonder if glasses-wearers are more likely to use mirrors on their helmets or handlebars, for that reason.

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Permalink Reply by Ernesto Lube on August 16, 2017 at 8:51am

Good post - I used to wear glasses since 8th grade. Vision gradually deteriorated to where I couldn't see far away past my stretched out hands. 

I never tried contacts. Having to stick my finger in my eyes was creepy to me.

Since i ride a lot, glasses began to get cumbersome - sweat. I had a couple of regular glasses and a couple of pairs of prescription sunglasses... but I longed to just wear regular sunglasses, and not wear eyewear when I didn't have to or needed to. 

I bit the bullet in May of 2006 and got Lasik. It eliminated all the woes and worries about glasses. For a while when I would wake up in the morning, I could ghost reach for my glasses, realizing in many instances, that I had donated them to the Lasik clinic.

But my preference now, just regular sunglasses or "cycling" specific ones. 

Permalink Reply by Carter O'Brien on August 17, 2017 at 6:41am

I prefer the additional peripheral vision that contacts provide. But some kind of covering is really helpful to keep dust and sand out of my eyes, especially on the LFT near beaches and anywhere near a construction zone.

Permalink Reply by Rodrigo delgado on August 18, 2017 at 3:37am

since i started playing sports, and kept breaking glasses, i switched to contacts. The only time i wear glasses is at home and im not doing anything else. But contacts for all sports and daily life, contacts 

Permalink Reply by Carter O'Brien on August 18, 2017 at 3:44am

Right on. I have to say the legacy of Rec Specs was an influence as well, they were crazy expensive and not exactly fashion-forward.

http://www.visionvintageoriginal.com/rec-specs/

Permalink Reply by Yasmeen on August 18, 2017 at 3:49am

I love wearing some type of eye protection because back when I was getting back into cycling I was riding at dusk, removed my sunglasses and shortly after a kamikaze bug flew into my eye and released some type of nasty, burning something when it panicked. I was wearing contacts, had to immediately get that contact out of my eye and my eye was red for days because that bug tried to take my eye out with him. It burned so badly!

Permalink Reply by Fuegofan on August 18, 2017 at 7:54am

I prefer to wear contacts over glasses simply as a safety thing--if I'm going to bite it face first, my glasses aren't built for that and it creates a bit of a danger.  Likelihood?  Minuscule.  I also prefer contacts because I can handle sweat and rain in my eyes better than on my glasses (and now that I have a helmet that has a brim to protect me from most rain I will never go back).  But if I'm just riding around on a Divvy, my glasses are fine.

No, I don't ever notice blind spots because my glasses give me really good coverage, and even in the fuzzy zone I can at least see movement, including in periphery.  Back when I had really narrow lenses, eating could be a pain because I'd have to move my head to look down at the food to see it instead of just my eyes.  Someday I hope to afford appropriate glasses for riding to avoid exactly what happened to Yasmeen.

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