Cycling UK Forum

Has anyone got a remedy for discharging tear ducts whilst cycling on cold days.

Cycling glogs; or if you already wear glogs for seeing there's this:

http://www.casco-helme.de/product.php?id=65

Got one on my Christmas list.

Mick Cammish wrote:Has anyone got a remedy for discharging tear ducts whilst cycling on cold days.

It was always a problem for me till I started wearing specs. Perhaps some cycling glasses with plain lenses (if that's not a contradiction in terms) would work.
Audax 67 beat me to it.

If you don't wear glasses already, http://www.screwfix.com/p/uvex-pheos-cl ... pecs/94227 seem OK, but they don't fit over glasses.

If you do wear them, try bigger glasses (I never had this problem when I wore Aviators but they're deeply uncool now) or http://www.wickes.co.uk/Wickes-Safety-G ... r/p/186931 over the top. http://www.screwfix.com/p/overspecs/8603d are cheaper and http://www.screwfix.com/p/bolle-overlig ... arge/5604f look nicer but I've not seen examples yet.

You wouldn't do it just to stop your eyes watering, but...

My eyes used to water excessively, until I had laser eye surgery to correct my vision about 12 years ago, which I have never regretted. A known side effect of the procedure is dry eyes. For a while after the surgery I used lubricating eye drops, but after a very few weeks my eyes settled down, and now not only can I see when it's raining (no rain-spattered specs), but my eyes don't water too much when it's cold.

Mick Cammish wrote:Has anyone got a remedy for discharging tear ducts whilst cycling on cold days.

It depends on what’s causing your eyes to weep but for me, it’s cold wind getting past my cycling glasses. For me, this is exacerbated when I’m using my recumbent - with my head angled back the oncoming wind flows up under the bottom of the lenses. My remedy is jockey goggles - like these: http://www.specs4sports.co.uk/kroops-pu ... -303-p.asp

My thoughts were that jockeys have to guard against a lot of flying muck and having a form that seals around the complete circumference of the lenses would be useful. I’ve used them only once, having bought them last week, on a 200km Audax yesterday. Temperatures ranged from 2 to 6 degrees but in contrast to my experience with conventional cycling specs, my eyes stayed clear and warm the whole ride. They would occasionally mist up slightly on fast descents when the chill wind was at its height but just lifting the bottom edge would clear it immediately. So far then, it seems they are the answer, for me at least.

I've worn glasses since the age of 8, and I have been cycling with my usual prescription glasses.

My problem is that I find the wind causes enough tears to blue my vision over about 25-26 mph even down a short hill.

If you wear no glasses, then I concur with trying the cycling goggles above, though tints *do* help with different light conditions (think Aldi or Lidl had some recently).

If OTOH you wear glasses, then it is:

a - Goggles over glasses. I've never found that satisfactory.
b - Prescription goggles. Just looked into this and it was going to be £100 or so then £30 on updated lenses every couple of years. Specsavers seem to be au fait with prescription goggles - my LBS staffer explained he used them until he had laser surgery. My Specsavers had a staff member who could talk sensibly about it, but my prescription made the heavily angled lenses a difficult option.
c -What I've done instead is to choose my free second pair of glasses to be as Goggles-like as my prescription will reasonably permit - that is as wraparound as possible to keep the wind out, with reactolites, thinner plastic and a bendy-nosepiece/flexi-hinges so they survive for when I go buttock over tip. They adjusted the lens central point to be more suitable for cycling posture.

The extra bill hurt slightly but that is the best I could do.

I won't be going for laser surgery until I see nearly everyone at Optician conferences not wearing glasses anymore.

Ferdinand

I wear glasses on my recumbent trike.
I use extra deep sunglasses frame.
This way the bottom of the frame tend to sit on my cheeks so wind cannot blow up under them.
Plus I've bent a bit more in the middle so they wrap around more.
I now only have trouble with my eye watering in cold weather above 40 mph.
I also find a cap helps as it also helps to stop wind blowing up my face.

I looked into lazer treatment, but my vision is too far gone. I now use daily contacts for cycling, but not for anything else. In damp weather it's a problem with plain lenses misting up. I fear it's the price I have to pay for continuing to enjoy riding by bike for the best part of sixty years, lol