ow! my eyes!
 

Its cold for southern California right now (like in the upper 50's in the morning!). As I start my ride the wind is cold and seems to be bothering my eyes so much I tear up as if I were crying. I don't cry so this is a problem. I don't want those joggers to think i'm some kind of... crier person or something.

I already wear glasses is there anything I can do to stop this?

Try a pair of wrap around sunglasses. If you have to wear your glasses to see, you can get some eye protection goggles that fit over them & keep the wind off. Available at places like Lowe's or Home Depot.

sexy.

http://www.wunderground.com/US/WA/Olympia.html?MR=1
Your lows>our highs. Search the Winter Cycling forum for good eye protection tips.

Cold? 50 degrees, huh? My eyes tear up in the morning too. I've never worried about someone thinking I was crying. If it bothers you, maybe the solution is get some ski goggles. They should offer good protection, keep the wind off, and allow enough ventilation to keep the lenses from fogging up. Now, I'm not going to go that route because it's not something I'm concerned with. I would actually be more concerned with what people would think of me wearing ski goggle in 50 degree weather. If I were going to go that route, I'd just go ahead and walk around town with a football helmet on too. Now that I think about it... all that really would make me cry... so I guess there is no solution.

Gah! I get this or something similar from a southerly wind and call it "cold eye syndrome" its like eating ice cream and getting that cold crampy feeling in the forehead but its around the eye instead. Sunglasses, (yellow or normal :rolleyes:), cut it out sometimes but not always. Can't see myself going full on goggles, maybe a balaclava?

Sunglasses or eyeware with more wrap will prevent tearing. The problem is that if you wear eyeglasses already, it can be a problem finding wrap-around glasses that will handle your prescription. For eyeglasses wearers like myself, all those fancy cycling glasses with interchangeable lenses are out of the question unless I wanted to spend a bunch of moola. If you have a fairly strong prescription, you probably won't be able to handle sunglasses with a lot of wrap. I have used some RayBan Predator sunglasses for several years that handled my prescription, but they really didn't provide enough eye coverage and my eyes still teared up on cold days. Recently I got some new sunglasses and opted for some Maui Jim frames with fairly decent wrap and much better eye coverage, and have not had any problems with tearing yet. I also got Transition lenses that change from clear to dark grey, depending on the light, so I can wear them when it's dark or light outside. That solves the problem of not being able to interchange lenses.

Is it any different than seeing the guys wearing balaclavas, tights, long sleeves, full finger gloves, helmet and shoe covers... when it's 60 degrees up here? (Yes, I've seen that a few times on the B-G Trail.)

OP - Check into a pair of Wiley goggles. They look like regular sunglasses but seal around the eye to keep out the wind. If you already wear glasses, then look into prescription goggles similar in style to the Wileys. I've seen a few companies offering things that don't look like mil-spec BCG's.

I had problems with tearing too, but that was when it was 10 degrees out and I was doing 25 mph descents. Last summer I invested in $$ Rudy Project prescription cycling glasses. The main reason for doing it was so a) they would be more stable and b) I would stop destroying my regular glasses. No more tearing and I have been very happy with them.

Cry.

Try riding in Michigan in the winter. I make sure I have my sunglasses (and multiple lenses) with me to block the cold air/wind from my eyes. They wrap around the sides to offer better protection. They help quite a bit. I need to use eye drops occasionally because the dry air will dry my eyes out even when I'm not riding. Wearing the glasses and using the eye drops works great.

What kind of prescription glasses do you wear right now? If it's wire frame, the wind could simply be passing through at the bridge. I use ugly (some would say "contraceptive) American Optic plastic frames with a "keyhole" bridge--pretty tight around and over the nose, lenses don't quite touch my cheeks when I'm cheshire grinning, and they do a great job keeping my eyes from tearing, even without being wraparound. My own glasses while riding theory is that it's more important to keep the wind from coming through the front of the glasses than worry about wind at the side of the glasses where wraparound designs would help. Most wraparound designs are too short to keep wind from slipping up underneath them, between them and your cheeks.

Obviously I've put way too much thought into this, but such is life when your wife (now ex-) is an optometric technician...

I got my last pair of prescription sunglasses from Zenni Optical. They're great and I paid $32 for them ($12.95 glasses plus some coatings and a $9 strong prescription charge).

They have prescription wind goggles starting at $39. They're probably not Rudy Project good, but I'm sure they're $40 worth of good.

I already have some prescription goggles before I discovered Zenni. I'm getting all my glasses from them in the future. I don't see any way in which the $25 glasses from them are inferior to the $650 glasses I got from my optician.

I'm hoping to see it get UP to the upper 50s sometime soon. It was 55 this morning but started dropping immediately, and it's supposed to snow again this afternoon.

Real men cry. It's OK :)

Ah, reminds me of going down a particularly large hill in about 45 degrees (which was warm, btw). I did about 35 down most of the hill, no assistance from me at that point. Anyway, by the bottom there were tears down my cheek: Tears of cold windy bliss!

I've never climbed that hill before, I wonder if I'd cry for a different reason?

I once saw someone riding around with a pair of swimming goggles.
That being said, ski goggles also work.

For riding in the upper 50s? Nah, just get some glasses.

Only if you can see the bone after a crash, or you exit a store and find a broken U-lock where your bike used to be.

I have the same problem, but my nose starts to run a lot when going from riding in the cold and then going into an office that is overly warm.

Cute jogger girls (or guys, I don't know your gender) will just think you're sensitive. But really, wrap around sunglasses (you can get ones with interchangable clear lenses) will work wonders.

My eyes run. So does my nose. And I spit a lot. Deal with it.

Just what you need.

They wrap around, and you can cry without anyone knowing!

http://www.sopretty.com.au/upload/pr...0061334481.jpg

I figured you California guys just started dressing like Eskimos when the temp gets below 60.

In the cold - my eyes also tear-up -> not a big deal.

However, in the real cold, I get a brain-freeze when I go down a steep hill really fast. Same effect as eating ice cream too fast.

Anyone else get these?

Has anyone thought about why our eyes tear up in colder windier environments? Our eyes have to stay moist and the cold and/or wind dries them out so our eyes start to water. Just realize that your eyes have already dried some by the time they start to tear up. It's not ideal for the health of our eyes to just "deal with it". It's ideal to prevent it from happening unless you want to deal with eye problems.

Good wrap around glasses block most of the wind and will help to retain some heat around the eyes. Eye drops provide good moisture/lubrication that can be used before and after a ride. Using it before a ride delays or stops any potential drying. It's a good idea to use it after a ride when your eyes dried out also.