Contacts or Glasses?

[Grog]

I find contacts to be the most important part of my cycling gear.

But then I'm so deeply myopic (nearsighted) that when I wear my glasses instead of my contacts I can trip walking out of an escalator and have to turn my head down to eat because I can't see what's in my plate in the small gap between the bottom of my glasses and my cheeks.

Still, having the capacity to easily change the shade of my sunglasses (from yellow to brown to pink) is really nice.

[maillotpois]

I hate wearing my glasses to ride. I lose all the peripheral vision I have when I have contacts, like what Grog described - I'm also very nearsighted.

It's worst when I am trying to glance over my shoulder to look for traffic, etc. Can't see a thing unless I dramatically turn my head so I can look through the glasses. I've only had to wear glasses a few times, after scratching my cornea for example, so I have been lucky.

[OakLeaf]

I've been wearing contacts for 25 years. The reason I got them to begin with was when I started racing bicycles and needed my peripheral vision back.

I've just reached the age where I have no close vision at all without my "cheaters." A couple of months ago I had a stye in my eye and had to go without contacts for a week or so, so I went riding in glasses. I really enjoyed being able to read the maps on my computer without having to stop and dig my cheaters out of my jersey pocket! I didn't miss my peripheral vision as much as I thought I would.

What I missed most was my rear-view mirror, since it won't fit on my prescription glasses, only my sunglasses.

I'm back to wearing my contacts now. But honestly I don't have a strong feeling either way about which is best for cycling, for myself with my presbyopia. The higher the speed, the more I miss the peripheral vision. I definitely took it easy on the descents when I was wearing glasses, and I'd never wear glasses on the motorcycle if I could help it. My rides were in the country though. In traffic, it would be a whole different situation, and I agree with MP.