Streaming with tears when cycling

When I ride to work I soon find my eyes streaming with tears.
I think it is something to do with the air rushing past. It seems a
bit worse in winter but it is still a problem even in May.

Are cycling spectaces designed to reduce this - or would I need to
test my theory with goggles? I wear normal spectacles anyway and
they're old fashioned ones woth large lenses 45x60mm

Anybody else have a similar problem? Help please. Apart from anything
else I'm not much of an advert for the joys of cycling!

David Edge, Derby

"David Edge" wrote in message
...
When I ride to work I soon find my eyes streaming with tears.
I think it is something to do with the air rushing past. It seems a
bit worse in winter but it is still a problem even in May.

Are cycling spectaces designed to reduce this - or would I need to
test my theory with goggles? I wear normal spectacles anyway and
they're old fashioned ones woth large lenses 45x60mm


Yes, close-fitting cycling specs do significantly reduce this. Worth
investing in some. I wear contacts & use cycling shades - colour of lens
dependent upon conditions. If you don't wear contacts, you can get cycling
glasses with inserts specifically for prescription lenses - or have them
made with prescription lenses - see

http://www.optilabs.com/

Cheers, helen s

David Edge wrote:
When I ride to work I soon find my eyes streaming with tears.
I think it is something to do with the air rushing past. It seems a
bit worse in winter but it is still a problem even in May.

That'll be it.

Are cycling spectaces designed to reduce this

Yes. They also stop dust and flies hitting your balls.

- or would I need to
test my theory with goggles? I wear normal spectacles anyway and
they're old fashioned ones woth large lenses 45x60mm

Anybody else have a similar problem? Help please. Apart from anything
else I'm not much of an advert for the joys of cycling!

Everyone gets the problem at high speed when not wearing glasses that
fully protect the eyes from wind, and I suppose some people at lower
speed. It's normal. I'm sure you'll get some advice on glasses that can
be used with/instead of normal specs.

Personally, I don't normally wear specs so either just put up with the
streaming (which I only badly get above 25 to 30 mph: down hills, in other
words) or I wear cycling shades.

ps. Mitts with a terry sweat wipe on the backs are useful for mopping up
the tears at the bottom of those hills :-)

~PB

David Edge wrote:
When I ride to work I soon find my eyes streaming with tears.
I think it is something to do with the air rushing past. It seems a
bit worse in winter but it is still a problem even in May.

Are cycling spectaces designed to reduce this - or would I need to
test my theory with goggles? I wear normal spectacles anyway and
they're old fashioned ones woth large lenses 45x60mm


I get it but find it passes after a short while. The problem I have is
while wrap around glasses prevent it I get problems of sweaty eyes
instead so I tend to go in favour of tears for a short time at the start
than stingy sweat for the rest of the ride. YMMV


--
Tony

"A facility for quotation covers the absence of original thought" Lord
Peter Wimsey (Dorothy L. Sayers)

David Edge wrote:
When I ride to work I soon find my eyes streaming with tears.
I think it is something to do with the air rushing past. It seems a
bit worse in winter but it is still a problem even in May.

Are cycling spectaces designed to reduce this - or would I need to
test my theory with goggles? I wear normal spectacles anyway and
they're old fashioned ones woth large lenses 45x60mm

Anybody else have a similar problem? Help please. Apart from anything
else I'm not much of an advert for the joys of cycling!

Yes, gets me too.

Different standard spectacle designs affect me differently; an older large
framed pair are better than most. Also varies between bike styles; the
'bent has different air-glasses effects to the uprights, and even the the
two uprights are different (though that may be a reflection of the speeds
they are ridden, the shopping machine does tend to go a lot slower than the
tourer).

I now use wrap around cycle glasses (Bolle Parole) with a prescription
insert. Clear lenses most of the time, mirrored greys on very bright days.
I also have other colours for use when cross country skiing.

My eyes seem to stream in strong wind fairly easily, I also suffer it when
hill walking, and usually have the cycle specs with me just in case.

Major downside of the cycle specs (*) is that the two lenses will get dirty
and close-vision isn't as clear through the two layers (I'm talking very
picky stuff which most people may not care about, follow URL in sig to get
the idea).



(*) apart from getting frozen snow and ice between the two lenses in rough
ski conditions.


- Nigel


--
Nigel Cliffe,
Webmaster at http://www.2mm.org.uk/

in message , David Edge
') wrote:

When I ride to work I soon find my eyes streaming with tears.
I think it is something to do with the air rushing past. It seems a
bit worse in winter but it is still a problem even in May.

Are cycling spectaces designed to reduce this - or would I need to
test my theory with goggles? I wear normal spectacles anyway and
they're old fashioned ones woth large lenses 45x60mm

Yes, the very wrap around style of cycling glasses are designed to do
this, and do work. I wear Oakley M Frames because my doting partner
bought me them; they're very good but ridiculously expensive and there
are plenty of much cheaper ones that I'm sure work equally well. You
can get prescription inserts for all the good brands.

There are two areas of problem wearing wrap around glasses when cycling:
one is when you're going slowly but with high energy output and you're
sweating a lot (e.g. up hill) they mist up; the other is in heavy rain
they become very difficult to see through. In both these circumstances
I push mine up onto my head but that won't work if you wear a helmet.

However, for the problem you describe they work well and I'd recommend
them.

--
(Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/
Ye hypocrites! are these your pranks? To murder men and give God thanks?
Desist, for shame! Proceed no further: God won't accept your thanks for
murther
-- Roburt Burns, 'Thanksgiving For a National Victory'

On Tue, 24 May 2005 12:34:49 GMT, David Edge
wrote:

When I ride to work I soon find my eyes streaming with tears.
I think it is something to do with the air rushing past. It seems a
bit worse in winter but it is still a problem even in May.
etc...

Thanks to all who reponded. First of all I'm glad that I'm not
suffering from some dreadful medical condition. It appears that my
awareness of this has been brought on by a change from 5-15 mile
commutes to just a couple of miles - presumably I wasn't aware of it
before.

Being a cheapskate I'll get some cheapo cycling glasses and try them
out before going for a full prescription job.

Thanks again

David