Cycling Specific Prescription Eyewear

It is hard to believe it has been almost three years since I first ordered my own prescription sunglasses back in June of 2014. (Pictured below right.) Later that year I ordered a pair of clear, no tint lenses that were interchangeable in the same frames. I was then covered for both bright sunlight and low light conditions.

Fortunately my prescription has not changed and the glasses still serve me well.

Recently my wife Kathy was in need of a pair of prescription sunglasses, and once again we went to Sport RX, a San Diego based company that specializes in sports eyewear.

As before, I initially emailed then spoke with Rob Tavakoli on the phone, and he was most helpful in guiding me through the many choices. Price was a consideration, but so too was quality. Rob steered me on to the Tifosi brand.

We are all familiar with the big brand names in sunglasses, and Sport RX stocks them all, but Tifosi is an American brand, that doesn’t even try to match the big names with an army of reps on the road, and a huge advertising budget. Rather they concentrate on producing a quality product at a competitive price.

I could relate absolutely to this strategy, it was how I ran my bike business. I didn’t have tens of thousands of dollars to spend on advertising, so instead produced a quality product, and relied on a dealer network to educate the consumer, and sell it. When all is said and done, the huge advertising budget is ultimately paid for by the consumer, with the higher prices you pay for the big brand names.

This time we went with Transitions Xtra Active adaptive lenses. The kind that adjust automatically, and darken or lighten according to the lighting condition. Added to this was Sport RX own anti-glare coating. At nighttime the lenses are almost clear, making them ideal for riding in the dark, or for that matter they can double as night driving glasses, as they cut down on glare.

In bright sunlight they darken quite rapidly, within a few minutes. On some of our rides, there are old growth trees that completely cover the road like a shaded tunnel. Again the lenses adapt to a lighter shade to accommodate this.

The lenses, like my own, are fully progressive, with distance vision in the top portion, and the close up prescription at the bottom. When riding leaning forward, you are looking through the top (Distance.) portion anyway, and having the close up option, it is there if you need to read something, or make adjustments on the bike. It saves having to carry a separate pair of reading glasses.

Above: The Tifosi "Wasp" glasses come in a nice semi-hard case with a zippered closure. This picture illustrates how the Transitions lenses are almost clear straight out of the case. Included with the frames but not shown in this picture, are non-prescription clear and tinted lenses.

As I started out saying, after three years of using my own prescription riding glasses, I can highly recommend them. The curved frames and lenses, fit close to the face so keep out the glare. The curved lenses also make it easier to see sideways, and when turning the head to look behind. They also stay in place on your face, and don’t slip down your nose like regular glasses do.

They are really part of your essential equipment, along with the shoes, shorts, gloves and helmet. Not only from the safety aspect, but proper cycling specific sunglasses make your riding experience just that much more pleasurable. 

I highly reccommend Spot RX. They go out of their way to find a product that best suits the individual customer. They understand cyclists and the cyclist's needs. This is the third time I have done business with them and I have never been disapointed. Please mention this blog, because it can't hurt.

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The Grey Escape

The Grey Escape is a charming little documentary film about a group of volunteer cyclists delivering bicycle rickshaws from Denmark to neighboring Norway. They take with them as passengers, a group of elderly residents from a Danish retirement community.

The 250 km. journey started in Rende, Denmark, and covering around 50 or 60 km. per day, the group traveled north to Hirtshals, where they took the ferry to Norway. There the bikes were handed over to the local municipality of Arendal, where they will be used for trips with retirement home residents there.

Coming from Denmark, these elderly passengers had been cyclists all their life, so a trip like this must have brought back many happy memories. To once again feel the wind in their face. It was mentioned in the movie that cycling is to Danes what skiing is to Norwegians.

In one part of the film a commentator says, “They’ve cycled all their lives, and now they can’t do it anymore.” I wondered why? If someone has ridden a bike all their life, they must have a certain level of fitness. They don’t suddenly become disabled overnight.

In a country like Denmark, where cycling is the normal way people get around, I would have thought there would be a number of the elderly who still ride bikes. The only reason to stop is when a person can no longer stay upright, their eyesight fails, or they are too weak to turn the pedals.

The movie touched on a subject that is constantly in my own thoughts, especially when some of these retirees were close to my own age. This is a generation who grew up in the same period I did, and at least in Denmark they maintained a certain level of fitness through cycling.

Whereas, most of the same generation from other parts of Europe and the USA, never exercised a day in their life. These Danish retirees did appear more mobile than those I see of the same age group in the US, but they were still “Old Folk.”

Age is not just physical fitness and appearance, it is attitude. Who was it said?

“People don’t grow old, they only become old when they stop growing.”

The state, or society can provide care for the elderly, a place to live, food, a warm bed, etc. But society cannot provide a purpose in life, and independence. This is up to each individual, and what is more symbolic of independence than the bicycle.

The documentary is 28 mins long, some of the dialog is in English, and that which is not has sub-titles. There are more details here: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/thegreyescape

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Finally, a mini-pump that actually works.

Bicycle tires, especially clincher tires, have greatly improved in the last twenty years or so. Back in the 1980s if you wanted a high performance tire for your high performance bike, you had to go with tubular tires, or sew-ups as they are called in the US. For the non-racing leisure rider this was a huge hassle and expense.

Today there is a wide range of performance clinchers to choose from, but a simple portable air pump to carry on the road, along with a spare inner tube and/or a patch kit. One that will put enough air in the tire to get you home in an emergency. Not so easy to find.

Most real bike enthusiasts have a floor pump (Track Pump.) to air up their tires at home.

But the full length frame fit pump, the kind one could use to beat off an attacking dog, disappeared when lugged steel frames disappeared.

Such a pump would pump up your tires, in fact in the old days it was all we had, and our pressure gauge was our thumb and forefinger.

The mini-pump has taken over from the full length pump, but if it won’t pump your tires up when needed, what use is it?

I have been struggling with such a mini-pump for at least two or three years. Like most of its kind it has a push-on air chuck that can be adapted (By reversing a rubber washer.) to fit either a Schrader or the smaller Presta road tire valve.

My first emergency road side flat, the pump was letting air out of the tire as fast as I was pumping it up.

Then I found I had bent the valve pin in the Presta valve. In trying to straighten it, it broke off and I had to start over with a second spare inner tube.

I then bent the second valve pin, but did not attempt to straighten it and got enough air in the tire to get me home.

After that I realized this pump was only good for putting a little air in the tube so it didn’t get pinched when fitting the clincher tire over the rim. I used a CO2 pump to bring the tire up to full pressure.

So when I was recently offered the “Road Air” mini-pump to try out, I was pleased to see it had a simple, ‘old tech’ screw on flexible connector.  The kind of connector pumps had from day one when the pneumatic tire was invented in 1887, and worked fine for the next 100 years. (Picture below.)

The built in push-on connector has been around since at least the 1930s and also worked fine with the full length pump. It was born out of necessity like the quick release hub because of racing. Even the professional riders had to change their own tubular tire, and pump it up, in races like the Tour de France. Picture below, Romain Maes pumping up a tire with a push on air chuck, in the 1936 TDF.

This “Deal with your own punctures,” regulation was still in place in professional racing throughout the 1950s. It was done in the interest of fairness because not all teams had a full support vehicle. In amateur races it went on into the 1980s, in all but the top races.

By the 1980s the Silca, frame fit pump was popular. It came in various lengths so you could buy one to fit your frame. Back in the day I painted many Silca pumps to match the frame. (Below.)

So a pump is no longer needed for racing, and the urgency to get a tire pumped up quickly is not the problem. The issue is, get the tire pumped up and get home. The built in push on air chuck is no longer needed on a mini-pump, and they don’t work anyway.

The reason. With a full length pump, one is pumping with long slower strokes. Because of the leverage it was easy to keep the air chuck firmly on the valve with one hand, while pumping with the other. Because a mini-pump is only 8 or 9 inches long, it is necessary to pump in fast short (Almost frantic.) strokes, and it is almost impossible to hold the air chuck steady, hence my experience with bent valve pins.

The flexible rubber connector on the “Road Air” pump is under a neat little plastic dust cap. Lift the dustcap and the connector unscrews from pump to extend it, but remains attached to the pump. It fits a Schrader type valve, and you have to use the Presta adaptor (Provided.) for a road bike.

(Above.) The handle opens up, and contains a Presta adaptor, a needle connector for blowing up soccer balls, and a plastic nozzle for blowing up anything else that needs air. The compartment in the handle is quite hard to open and my first attempt it came off suddenly and the contents went flying. Had I been at the roadside the Presta adaptor would have been lost in the long grass with all the other parts.

I found it best to lever open the handle with a small pen knife I always carry on my key ring. (Left.)

I always have a spare Presta adaptor in my patch kit anyway, so I’m covered.

I would prefer a Presta valve only version, and I don't need all the other stuff.

The maker would save money on a plain handle instead of one that opens.

There are enough road bike enthusiasts out there, I would expect there to be a good market.

When this little pump arrived, I let all the air out of one of my tires and connected it up.

Two minutes of fast pumping and my thumb and forefinger told me there was enough pressure in the tire to get me home if I was on the road.

The pump comes with a little carrying bracket that fits on a water bottle mount. I prefer to carry it in my pocket.

The two minutes it took me to pump up my tire, was the time it took to sell me on this pump. It pumped my tire up, that’s all I ask. This is a great little pump.

Buy the Road Air Pump here. Reasonably priced at $24.95 and comes with a lifetime guarantee. 

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Tonyon Universal Folding Bike Lock

If you use a bike for transport, securing it when you park it can be a problem. A length of chain and a padlock might do the trick, but an enterprising thief, with a set of bolt cutters in his back pack could take off with your bike in seconds flat.

The problem with bike locks, they are big and bulky, or if they are small and compact, then often they do not have the capacity to go around a stationary object like a bike rack or fence, and secure the frame and both wheels.

It was the reason the design of this lock pictured above had me taking a second look.

It folds up small when not in use, and when opened up its effective length is 32 inches. (81.3 cm.) Made up of 6 separate flat steel bars, jointed by rivets, the device folds up to measure 7 ¼ in. x 2 1/8 in x 1 ¼ in. (18.4cm. x 5.4cm. x 3.4cm.)

There is a built in lock, with what the makers call a “Class B” key, (See picture left.) making the lock difficult to open by usual lock picking methods.

In order to try the lock out and to take these pictures, I secured my bike to a nearby chain link fence.

The flat steel bars threaded easily through the wire fencing, and around the steel fence post.

I removed my front wheel and placed it alongside the rear wheel.

There was ample length to go around the fence post, frame and both wheels. (See picture below.)

The steel bars have a heavy duty powder coat, and are nicely rounded at the edges so they won’t scratch your paint. The rivets too are countersunk below the surface so they won’t scratch and also making them difficult to file or grind off.

Where the flat bars are riveted together, there is a loose washer in between, which would simply spin if any attempt was made to hacksaw through the rivets.

The lock fits neatly into a carrying case when not in use.

This is supplied with the lock and attaches to a set of standard water bottle mounts.

If you can’t afford to lose a water bottle, you could carry it in your back pack.

It would be too heavy for a jersey pocket. Weighing in at 1lb. 10oz. the weight is the one drawback.

But I don’t see a way round this. If a lock is to be effective as a theft deterrent, it has to be strong.

If this lock was made lighter by using less metal, it would be no better that a length of chain, and vulnerable to bolt cutters.

The lock comes with 3 separate keys.

Made by Tonyon the lock is available online at the Gearbest website for $31.27.

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Padded Under Shorts

Traditionally cycling shorts are worn without underwear. Anyone who knows anything about cycling knows that.

The reason, most garments including underwear have seams where the panels that make up the garment are stitched together.

These seams will rub and chafe the tender underparts and the insides of your thighs, as you sit on a narrow saddle, with your legs pumping up and down as you pedal your bicycle.

I have been involved in cycling and cycle racing since the early 1950s. Long enough to remember wearing woolen jerseys and shorts for racing. Woolen shorts, always black, not only by tradition, but by UCI regulation at one time.

The shorts had a one piece seamless patch on soft chamois leather sewn inside the crotch of the shorts. There was no padding. Both the jerseys and shorts were a lot of work to launder. They had to be hand washed, and left to air dry, or the wool would shrink and become matted and useless in a very short time.

After washing, the chamois leather in the shorts became stiff and hard. It required that you rub the leather between both hands to make it supple again. Then on race day the chamois patch was smeared generously with Vaseline.

With all this special care and expense, we never trained in our racing clothes. There were no cycling specific clothes in the 1950s, unless you could afford something tailor made. Our cycling shorts for training rides in the summer were often an old pair of cut-off trousers.

It wasn’t until the 1960s and 1970s that cycling specific clothing became available for non-racing use. Manmade fibers like Acrylic, often replaced wool, making them easier to launder and care for. For racing too, Acrylic or a Wool/Acrylic mixture, replaced the pure wool shorts and jerseys.

However the chamois leather patch inside the shorts continued into the 1980s. Then as manmade fabrics for cycling clothing took over completely, the chamois seat insert was also replaced with a manmade material. The extra padding inside the shorts is quite a recent addition.

And so the tradition of not wearing underwear under your cycling shorts continues. But what if the underwear has the exact same padded insert that your cycling shorts have?

A company called Gearbest contacted me recently to see if any of the wide range of products they offered would interest me. I noticed some padded cycling specific boxer shorts that I thought might be worth a closer look. They sent me four pairs of these shorts. Two different brands, a L and an XL size of each.

The sizing is a little skimpy, and I found the XL size fitted me best. I do have a little middle age, old age spread. My waist is 37 inch. They do make an XXL size, but if you are really big around, these may not work.

The two brands I tried were Arsuxeo, priced at $9.16, and Kingbike, priced at $9.73. They were both made in a similar black Polyester/Spandex type material, a lot thinner than regular cycling shorts, but this is a good thing because they are considered an under-garment, and any thicker they would retain too much heat.

The Silicone padding was similar to that I am used to seeing in most cycling shorts on the market.

Of the two brands, the Kingbike has a nicer wide elastic waistband. The Arsuxeo had slightly thicker padding.

Wearing these under my regular padded shorts, I was aware of the extra padding, but didn’t find it uncomfortable. In fact as I got into my ride I didn’t even think about it.

Another reason to wear undershorts is modesty. I have mentioned before, that modern cycling shorts, even the expensive ones are often see through when stretched tightly across a well-rounded butt. Just stretch the fabric and hold it up to the light, you might be surprised at how translucent your shorts are, and when riding behind you, we can see your butt crack. The extra thin layer of black material these undershorts offer takes care of this issue.

There are many people who ride a bike for transport, either commuting to work, or out for a social evening. They wear their regular street clothes. Some wear a pair of cycling shorts underneath for comfort. But in summer this can get really hot. These boxer shorts would be a perfect replacement. They have no fly opening, so are considered unisex.

The Arsuxeo Shorts are shown at the top left. The Kingbike Shorts lower right. In both images the shorts are inside out to show the padding. Priced at under $10 a pair one could afford to buy several, ensuring you always have a clean pair in your underwear drawer.  

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