Does anyone ride with a visual impairment?

Cressers

As someone who is both VI and a cyclist, I wondered if there were any others out there as well?

simon johnson

Yes, short-sighted, and I hate having to cycle with glasses (for obvious reasons).

On one occasion I was cycling to an exam, running late of course- droplets of sweat causing my poorly fitted glasses to slide down my nose. Mis-calculated their adjustment; fumble, panic, - que slow-mo- only to see them fly up into the air land behind me - noooo!- and crush - hgv straight over them!

Had a tunner planned for the next day, Boots didn't do a 24hour so I had to spend a small fortune at some swanky joint on Tottenham Court Road getting replacements.

I'm considering laser treatment.

Kenjaja1

I wear glasses (varifocals). The prescrip is not extreme so, although I wear them the rest of the time I do not wear them when cycling. I prefer cycling glasses when riding and have not found a source of affordable cycling specific prescription glasses.

At my last visit to the optician, I was told to expect a steady decline in my eyesight for the next 10 years and that it would then stabilise!

Having to spend a couple of hundred quid every year for the next 10 years has made me decide to look into the pros and cons of laser treatment - it has to be a cheaper option in the long term.

plowmar

Like Kenjaja1 I also have varifocals and used to wear my day to day glasses whilst riding.

Yes, sweat does make them slide off, and worse disturbs balance when grabbing to put them back on.

I now wear a (cheap?) £120 laubsol glasses from Optilabs.

Given that my DtD pair cost in excess of £250 and would break if dropped from a speeding???? bike I consider them a good purchase.

Plus, as far as I know, they do bounce.

However if Kenjaja1's prescription is changing yearly then go for the laser treatment and save, it may even be cheaper now in these days of Credit Crunch. (Sounds like a choccie bar )

Cressers

Most optomerists don't have their eyes lasered, prefering to wear glasses. Think long and hard before having it done and do plenty of research beforehand.

tripwire

I guess I am, though I hadn't really considered short-sightedness to be a true visual impairment until I read this thread (I was thinking of uncorrectable problems like tunnel vision or only having one good eye).

I wear glasses all the time, and they bother me least when I'm on the bike. Even if I got my eyes lasered, I'd still wear glasses to protect my eyes. I had a huge bumblebee crash straight into my nose while descending at speed once and it hurt like hell. The thought of having something hit my eyeball with that much force doesn't bear thinking about.

This is what amuses me about the adverts for laser treatment - most of the exciting sports they show people doing are ones where you'd wear eye protection even if you had perfect sight!

I used to think glasses were expensive, but if you compare them to clothes, say, they're pretty cheap really. I think 100 quid for something I wear for almost every waking hour over a couple of years is pretty reasonable.

DomPro

I'm slightly short-sighted but not so much to be an 'impairment'. Usually have contacts in with sunglasses when cycling.

fossyant

Same here - use RX inserts in my bike glasses..........

ColinJ

The German ex-pro sprinter Marcel Wüst was terribly injured in a crash some years back and ended up blind in one eye. He was able to start cycling again after recovering from his various operations but he had to retire from racing.

He was a guest rider on a couple of training camps I did on the Costa Blanca and he was asked about his eyesight. It was obviously good enough for riding in small groups at non-pro speeds, but he said that his peripheral vision was not good enough to ride safely in the peloton.

It was pretty impressive to see what a retired pro-sprinter could do on Spanish mountains when he was relatively 'unfit'. I think he said that he was at about 60% of the fitness level he'd been at as a pro, and if he'd really worked at it, he could probably get back to 80%. Without actually training and racing full-time he could never get that last 20%.

nwallace

If you count Long and short Sightedness as Visual Impairments (which they are) there is just like driving a lot of people cycling with eyesight below the standards legally required.
And even more with deteriorating vision.
Completely unaware of it.

Oh, Deteriorating, Long Sighted and bilateral Coloboma.

simon johnson

Hero of the visually impaired?




Are there any more?