When in the aero position on my new tri bike, I’m looking over my prescription sun glasses. As a result, I’m either looking at the road within 10 feet ahead thru glasses or looking over glasses, albeit blurry, at a safer longer distance. All of my pairs of glasses yields the same result. This situation is both aggravating and dangerous. Am I too low on handlebars or do I need contacts & sunglasses with a wider field of view? Anybody have similar issues?
You could try to add additional padding to the nose pads of your glasses so that they sit higher on your head. The nose pads of bike sunglasses typically are longer for this reason.
Most folks who ride what is commonly called an “aggressive” position strain a bit to see up the road. Problems with glasses are common and many opt for frameless glasses like these http://www.zappos.com/n/p/p/7351597.html . Of course, these aren’t prescription.
Don’t know what to tell you on the prescription thing. I do have a set of Oakley cycling glasses with prescription inserts, but they’re not frameless and I’d be looking over the tops of the inserts just like you.
.
I went down the contact lense route.
Means I dont have to worry about my prescription goggles and finding non-prescription sun glasses to suit is easy.
Had zero problems racing in contacts thus far.
As the previous reader mentioned, there are glasses that do not hold hold the oversee problem. I wear the Oakley Zero Glasses
Not wearing a prescription I am not sure of the solution but this design if can be accommodated to take a prescription is awesome for aero riding.
.
When in the aero position on my new tri bike, I’m looking over my prescription sun glasses. As a result, I’m either looking at the road within 10 feet ahead thru glasses or looking over glasses, albeit blurry, at a safer longer distance. All of my pairs of glasses yields the same result. This situation is both aggravating and dangerous. Am I too low on handlebars or do I need contacts & sunglasses with a wider field of view? Anybody have similar issues?
Seems you answered your own question. Dont think anything would be safer then the contacts. Problem is how are they in the water? I am only visually handicapped by choice now and then. If you are comfortable you are not to low. Safety takes precedence over all other concerns
I feel your pain, but this is what I have found to work well for me: Rudy Project flip up sunglasses with a bifocal insert. They fit under my L.G. Rocket aero helmet OK. The only down side is that they tend to fog up coming out of T1, so I flip up the shades until they clear and then put them down. They are also great while driving the car in that when I go through a tunnel I can flip up the shades and still be looking through the Rx inserts. I have had them for two years and have used them in over 20 triathlons including 5 70.3s plus of course lots of training miles. They have held up OK, but the removable tinted plastic shades need to be replaced as they have gotten a little scratched up. Best in vision, Tim
I see this a lot in bike fitting. I use Oakley M Frames with Rx and they sit higher on the face than most glasses I find. Not sure how they compare to the other Oakleys mentioned above.
They aren’t cheap but they are the only piece of eqpt that goes with me on EVERY ride, EVERY type of bike, so cost was no object. If the nosepiece mods or contacts can’t be made to work, give them a try.
I second the move to contact lenses. I can wear any sunglasses I want, regardless of prescription; and, if I damage or lose the glasses, I’m not out big bucks.
Contacts are perhaps the easiest answer. They are not very expensive and then you choose the sunglasses that work best for you whether or not you can get an RX lenses.
Having said that, I wish I had a pair of prescription sunglasses. Contacts are not always that comfortable for me (I’ve been wearing them for 20 years) and they are that one extra thing.
I ride and run with Oakley Radars. They give me great coverage and I don’t look over the top of them. You can always get a regular and RX lens to go into the Oakleys, then if you do or don’t feel like wearing the contacts you are set. That would only set you back a small fortune.
Good luck.
I have some Performance prescription glasses and they work pretty well. Of course it helps to have a high nose bridge to keep them up there. (It plays hell getting corrective goggles to work, though)
Get contacts, and a visor attached to your helmet (which may or may not be an aero helmet). You can keep your head lower (turtling) and not have the sunglasses interfere with your vision.
Consider contacts with the Oakley Zeros or maybe the Oakley Radar.
If you are looking for a new contact, the Accuvue Moist are pretty awesome.
As the previous reader mentioned, there are glasses that do not hold hold the oversee problem. I wear the Oakley Zero Glasses
Not wearing a prescription I am not sure of the solution but this design if can be accommodated to take a prescription is awesome for aero riding.
.
These Oakley Zero look pretty good. How adjustable are the noise pieces? Thanks.
Not super adjustable but based on the nature of the glasses is not a big deal (At least for me). They come with two options for the nose, one is two plastic clips and the other is a single piece. I use the single piece but is not a big difference.
Based on them not having a frame of any type the fit is pretty versatile as you can use like a normal pair for running but when you go into the aero bars you are looking through the top half of the glasses so they sit basically where you need them to for the purpose at the time.
I have put mine through a year of training, a couple drops while riding (missed my jersey pocket :)) and have held up super well with no lens problems or the like. May look at replacing the rubber on teh arms later this year but all in all was one a good purpose and even at the price got good value for money. A lot of LBS carry these so that may be worth checking out to see how the fit works for you. Would especially always recommend trying sunglasses out with your helmet on to see how the sit.
Contacts are a cheap fix, but laser eye surgery is the only way to go.
I’m sure anyone who wears contacts on big training days will agree.
After absorbing chlorine in the pool, getting dried out by the wind on the bike and being dehydrated after a long run… you’ll be ready to rip out your eyes at the end of the day.
Surgery is expensive, but worth every penny, IMO.
Very tough problem and I feel for you. My dream position has 17.5cm of drop and could theoretically ride it all day, but now that I cannot wear contacts I am going through an entire fit process. I have punctual plugs for dry eye already and am not a candidate for Lasik due to this fact. I have tried every frame combo on the market and even let 2 different optic shops try bonding Rx lenses inside a tt shield. The curve was too severe and the lenses were never going to sit in there, but I tried:)
I am now going to run a slacker/taller frame so I can ride about 7cm of drop and see safely, it’s the only option available to me if I want to ride safely and that is priority #1. At first I was so pissed and bummed I just sold my tt gear and decided to go back to roadie, but never considered going to an un-aero position so am going to try. My gut tells me I’m going to be about the same speed I am on the road bike and will probably end up selling the tt rig anyway, but want to try.
I put a strap on my sunglasses that goes behind the head and keeps them riding high on my nose. Makes them float also…
I have allergy problems, and during certain times of year contacts absolutely killed me during long rides.
Something like these:
After a while of dealing with this problem, I took the SlowTwitch officially approved approach of “Throwing Money at the Problem” and had LASIK done.
(For a more likely solution, I have found the Rudy Project sunglasses to work reasonably well for cycling as they have these fatter nosepads that help keep them up higher. I used the prescription insert and that worked pretty well for me until I gave up on corrective lenses and just had a “frickin’ laser beam” shot at my eyeballs)
I tried fancy racing glasses with inserts. But if it ever rained or was humid out they fogged in-between. So I just went for contacts. You can get daily ones that you just use for racing then throw out. They are expensive if you use them every day, but just occasioanlly they are great. I swim with mine (with goggles of course) and have had no issues. Then i buy whatever sunglasses works with my helmet.