This eyewear obsession of mine will never end.
I’ve been wearing contacts since I was thirteen years old. At that time, I could imagine nothing more nerdy than a pair of eyeglasses, so my mom let me jump straight to contact lenses in order to preserve whatever sliver of coolness I had in Junior High. Though my maniacal addiction to sunglasses has grown exponentially since then, it has never occurred to me that I could wear things over my eyes all the time–even indoors–until now.
Being a frugal college kid/graduate student, I managed to stretch a two-year supply of contact lenses from my Junior year at Stanford until my third year at UCSF. I paid no attention to the fact that I’ve been squinting more and more, or that I was recognizing friends from a distance by their size and shape instead of their faces. One day last month, it struck me that I couldn’t read street signs while driving, and I made an appointment with an eye doctor that very afternoon.
The eye doctor was appalled by my negligence. She scolded me for my multiple offenses: wearing expired lenses, wearing the same set of lenses for up to six months, not getting yearly checkups, etc., etc. She then informed me that through my contact lenses I was seeing 20/50. No wonder I was squinting all the time!
She gave me a sample pair of contact lenses with the correct prescription, and it has changed my life. I can see the world again. Even though I’ve been wearing the correct prescription for one month now, I still stare out at the city with a sense of wonder and excitement every day. The world is so sharp and clear, it’s surreal.
In addition, I’d like to apologize to those of you who have raced against me (or driven with me) for the past five years. I was more or less blind the whole time. Odds are, I have no idea what half of you really look like.
Anyway, the eye doctor asked if I wanted to order new contacts and update my eyeglasses prescription. “I’ve never had eyeglasses,” I said, and proceeded to order a year’s supply of new lenses. “You know, your insurance gives you a pretty good deal on frames and lenses, and we’ve got a wide selection of modern styles,” she replied. Just like that, I became enamored of the idea. It’s amazing what a difference twelve years can make. Now that I’m a twenty-four year old graduate student, there’s nothing nerdy about glasses; if anything, glasses are cool now.
I just received my new pair of glasses this morning. Here’s a before and after shot.
Before
After
I don’t know about you, but I think I look significantly more refined and intelligent with glasses on.
Now I just need to figure out how to smoothly transition between my non-prescription sunglasses and my eyeglasses. I already tried to swap them when I left the eye doctor’s office, and quickly realized that I couldn’t see five feet in front my my nose. That’s a problem.
I wore contacts for many years but wore my glasses to class in my MBA program because I thought they made me look smarter — like a more serious student.
I wish I’d been given this advice years ago. Maybe grad school will be easier now that I don’t look like a bum…
Ever lose your contact(s) in the middle of a race? Had friends that have had that happen—a couple of times, the results weren’t pretty. Prescription racing specs ain’t cheap. Oakleys redefine the word expensive (and they won’t just sell you the lenses). I’ve stuck with Rudy Project for years—they’re awesome, and besides, they’re more eurotrash.
I’ve never lost a contact in a race, but I can imagine it would be disorienting.
Have you read my post about my old Rudy Project Tayos? Maybe I could get THOSE bad boys with prescription lenses. That would be hot.
If you’re gonna kick it old school, why don’t you track down a set of sweet, sweet Oakley Factory Pilots?
I’ve lost a contact just one time while riding: in a very fast paceline up on Summit Road behind Marc Hagenlocher and Dario. I was working hard to stay on and looked behind me to do a car-check. The wind got behind my Rudy’s and WHOOSH. Luckily the lens stuck to the inside of my glasses and I managed to get it back in my eye.
I’ve actually done a lot of riding with no sunglasses on and never had any issues with my contacts.
I actually think losing one wouldn’t be a huge deal as long as the lens you lost was not in your dominant eye.
Was that the ride you did from Palo Alto to Watsonville?
Also…when you’ve got 20/110 vision (or whatever I’ve got) I don’t think there’s such a thing as a “dominant” eye.
Yep… PA to Watsonville. How the hell did you know that?
By dominant, I don’t mean an eye that is more focused than the other. I mean the eye that your brain gets the majority of its visual info from. I think most right-handed people are also right-eye dominant. I am, at least. If I take out just my left contact and walk around, it isn’t that bad, really. If I take out just my right contact it is really uncomfortable. Even people with 20/20 vision still have a dominant eye.
I dunno…you told me about that ride once, many years ago. Not sure why I remember that.
You are lucky you can wear the contacts so at least you can sport some good looking glasses. I can’t do contacts, and my astigmatism requires a relatively flat lens. Those too factors help eliminate have cool prescription sun glasses. And so I’m left with my goofy Ray Bans.
Brian…sorry, somehow this comment got stuck in my blog’s spam filter. I think it’s cause you’re dropping the word “Ray Ban,” you hipster.
Don’t ask me how I found this; probably during an insomnia fueled weeknight internet binge.
Regardless, as a fellow graduate student/bike racer/self-deprecator, this is one of the most entertaining, not to mention therapeutic, reads I’ve ever come across.
Looking forward to seeing you during the season, Rand…banging our heads away in a likely ill-fated breakaway.
-Chris Turner
Glad to hear that you enjoy this nonsense.
I’ve been waiting for you to show up at some races, but I haven’t seen you yet. Someone said they thought you crashed hard at Snelling, but then again…EVERYONE crashed hard at Snelling. Did you really crash? If so, you alright?
See you off the front soon…
Yeah, dude. Broken jaw, facial stitches, and the usual road rash. Sounds worse than it really is. I have no idea what the hell happened. What I do know is that I’ve “raced” for a total of 20 seconds this season…Hanford?