Old skill taken for granted - until...

[Mr Merde]

This weekend I had a very sharp lesson in survival skills.

A skill I have taken for granted. One I never even thought about or realised how much my bike riding depended upon this skill.

What can this be?

My eyesight.

A slight accident whilst gardening yesterday left me in extreme pain and at 2am last night there was nothing for it I had to go to middlemore to get checked out.

Donned the bike gear and headed out. Left eye streaming and agonising.

The point of this little missive.

Get your eyes checked.

Try riding 40km with one eye only.

My depth perception was totally gone. My riding was only safe at the low speed I did travell at.

Corners were a nightmare and braking was dangerous at the higher speeds.

If you value your sport then protect your eyes.

Obviously total loss of sight will stop you riding but as I have found even temporary partial loss in one eye makes riding very very dangerous.

Merde

[yungatart]

Ouch! I hope you've got that sorted!

Not in the same league as an injury, obviously, but I suffer from really bad hayfever at this tiime of the year. My eyes are permanently sore, itchy and watering, some days are not too bad, but I often forgo a ride because they are just too sore!
It is gutting, but thats life I guess!

[Steam]

Fireball has sight in only one eye, she seems to do okay. Maybe you can get used to it.

[deanohit]

Fireball has sight in only one eye, she seems to do okay. Maybe you can get used to it.

My mum only has one eye, she does fine riding and driving.
Me, I can't see much out my right eye, so I'm stuffed with out my glasses, I can see enough to ride with out them, but I wouldn't be going anywhere at 100 or even 70.

[gijoe1313]

<-- 1st time I've used this smiley!

So, hope everything is sorted, I remember getting a scratch on my left eyeball - not a fond memory and I can well sympathise with you. Hope everything is well and on the mend!

[007XX]

Jeepers...Hope you're ok now???

Definitely a taken for granted thing isn't it? Until it's gone...

I rode with Sarge (who lost one eye), and he is definitely not slowing down because of it...

[ManDownUnder]

I rode with Sarge (who lost one eye), and he is definitely not slowing down because of it...

LOL - I was thinking of exactly that!

[007XX]

LOL - I was thinking of exactly that!

Thought you might...Aaaaahhh the memories!

[Meekey_Mouse]

Lol, It is really, really hard riding with only one eye! Depth perception goes right out the window and as you're scanning up ahead for any dangers it hurts sooo badly...

On my way up to Auckland on Friday I got some thing really bad in my eye... I still don't know what it was but I have a funny suspicion it was concrete dust or something similar as I could never see it, but felt it. I had to ride from Hamilton to Auckland with one eye, riding through almost peak hour traffic on the motorway... Crying most of the way

[owner]

scary! hope you get it sorted

[Badjelly]

Lol, It is really, really hard riding with only one eye! Depth perception goes right out the window

You get used to it. Binocular vision is most effective at 1-4 m range, less effective at the the sorts of distances you deal with most of the time while motoring.

My eye condition (keratoconus, if you're interested ... thought not) requires me to wear hard contact lenses and I have done for 35 years. At times I have made do with only one, because I lost one and was waiting for a replacement, or because I was having a lot of trouble with irritation in one of my eyes. For a year or two in my 20s I wore just one lens, but I stopped because I was going cross-eyed. My unaided vision is very blurry, so with one lens I have useful vision in only one eye. The transition is difficult. It takes a day or two for my brain to learn how to handle the information (or lack of it) from my lens-less eye. But I get used to it and I don't find driving or riding with only one lens too bad. I'm bloody awful at tennis, though: always misjudging the distance of the ball.

[willy_01]

yea it takes a while alright. I recieved an eye injury at work this year which has left me with only about 10% sight out of my left eye. I reckon its taken about 6months for my brain to really get used to it, up close stuff was the hardest tho, driving has been fine/ no real effect. Im 23 so ive really got to look after my good eye. Moral of the story is look after your eyes guys or become a pirate !

[Solarwind]

I've had monocular vision (i.e. no depth perception) ever since I was born, I can see out of both eyes but my left eye didn't develop completely and the detail I can see is severely restricted, something that can't be fixed with surgery or lenses. Ontop of that I started getting short-sighted around age 12 (that at least can be fixed with contacts). I get a letter from my optometrist to bypass the eyesight test whenever I renew my license. My peripheral vision is fine in both eyes. That's actually one of the reasons I prefer to ride than drive a car, on a bike your line of sight isn't as restricted as in a car and you have more room to move to get a better view of what's going on around you. I've learned to judge distance using parallax, i.e. the nearer something is, the faster it moves in your field of vision. That's how we all judge distances once something is far enough away that both our eyes receive the same view of it.