VSP Blog

Renee M. is a member of VSP's Corporate Marketing & Brand Management team.

When it comes to riding my bike, I usually opt for contact lenses to meet my visual correction needs. I choose contacts because they enable me to wear sunglasses that I would be hard-pressed to find in an RX-able version.

However, whether wearing contacts or glasses for visual correction on the bike, I recently learned through a good friend’s bad decision why it’s always smart to bring back-up “eyes.” Much like getting a flat 30 miles from home and discovering that you don’t have the tools to fix it (like a spare tube, patch kit, or a tire pump), reducing your visual acuity due to a lost contact or lens can not only put a damper on your ride, it can also be dangerous.

I say that because this past weekend a friend of mine was out on a 60-mile training ride in the sticks (i.e. a place with little to no cell phone reception) when she got hit in the face by a rock kicked up from a passing delivery truck. Thankfully, she was wearing sunglasses which took most of the abuse. Unfortunately, they were prescription sunglasses and, in her haste to get on the road that morning, she forgot to stow her spare eyeglasses.

In what I’ll call “a momentary lapse of otherwise good judgment,” my friend decided to try riding back to her car, despite having only one usable lens to look through. But if there’s anything more difficult than steering a bike with one “good” eye, it’s doing it on a single lane road with moderate traffic and no shoulder.

Stubborn as my friend is, she finally decided walking her bike was better than becoming a hood ornament. So she thumbed a ride back to her car where, thankfully, she had an old pair of eyeglasses in the glove box.

Lesson learned: even though I wear contact lenses while riding, I pack a little lens kit (complete with a tiny bottle of eye re-wetting drops to combat dryness and new contacts) and a spare pair of glasses with me.

For more on what to wear to get the most out of your bike ride, check out this video: http://www.ehow.com/video_2361735_weather-conditions-bike-riding.html

And for more info on how to prevent sports-related eye injuries, check out VSP’s Eyecare Discovery Center: http://www.vsp.com/discovery/articles/astronauts-wear-it-why.jsp?topic=eye_safety

Team Type 1′s Matt Wilson is recognized on the podium with UCI President Pat McQuad and the mayor of Cork, Ireland (left). Photo courtesy: Tour of Ireland.

Cork, Ireland – For the second consecutive year, Matt Wilson earned the Tour of Ireland’s King of the Mountains title for Team Type 1.

The Australian survived a final stage that featured strong winds, chilly temperatures and blinding sheets of rain that forced officials to shorten the race once it reached the final circuits through the streets of Cork, Ireland.

“The rain was unbelievable coming into town,” Wilson said. “The water coming down St. Patrick’s Hill was like a waterfall.”

Wilson finished 24th on the final stage and 24th overall, 4:39 behind Russell Downing (Candi TV-Marshalls Pasta). The Englishman won the race for the second year-in-a-row and finished second on the final stage, which was won by Petter Nordhaug Lars (Joker Bianchi).

Wilson’s biggest challenge to keeping the red King of the Mountains jersey Sunday came when Jay Thomson (MTN-Energade) – sitting third in the mountains classification – integrated himself into a breakaway. But Team Type 1’s six riders (Ken Hanson did not start the final stage due to illness) worked hard to cut a 90-second gap back to 20 seconds.

“And just when we were about to catch him (Thomson), he dropped his chain,” Wilson said.

Team Type 1 Director Sportif Vassili Davidenko said the entire squad performed admirably in helping earn the eighth King of the Mountains title in the two-year history of the Team Type 1 men’s professional program.

“The guys did a great job defending the jersey today,” Davindenko said. “The rain and wind made the final stage very dramatic.”

Tim Hargrave visited Ziegler Leffingwell Eyecare and found two pair of Nautica sunglasses. We think they look great!

Tim wearing Nautica sunglasses, model #6112S, color Army.

Tim wearing Nautica sunglasses, model #5029S, color jet.

For more information about Ziegler Leffingwell Eyecare, visit their website at www.zleyecare.com.