Friday, May 15, 2009
Shades
My old sunglasses served me well. They originally belonged to my brother, who bought them at K-Mart for a mission trip to Mexico. They survived all the dust, dirt, and hazards of construction work but when my brother got home he promptly abandoned them for his Oakleys, so I claimed them because I had lost or broken yet another pair of sunglasses (which is why I never buy Oakleys). I may have looked a little strange in men's sunglasses, but not as strange as I would have looked in any of the women's sunglasses that I saw in stores, since this was the era of giant bug-eyed shades. (I guess it's still that era, but I'm hoping the trend will pass soon.) They served me well for several years, even after my friend borrowed them for a frisbee game and promptly got hit in the face. They didn't break though, and the blood wiped right off. Eventually one of the ear pieces snapped - I'm still not sure how - so I was forced to replace them with a pair of slightly giant, slightly bug-eyed lady sunglasses (I did the best I could). When I needed new cycling sunglasses, however, I dug out the old shades - yes, I'm a packrat - and put them back together with electrical tape. You can barely tell with the helmet - or that's what I tell myself - and I've worn them for cycling ever since.
Now that we are heading across the country, however, Kyle convinced me to buy new sunglasses that had peripheral cover, earpieces that stayed together on their own, and interchangeable lenses so that I could shield my eyes as the sky darkened and still be able to see. Hopefully Corey Hart wasn't a cyclist...
Comfort is also key, so I wanted to try them on instead of shopping online. I went to the Performance Bike store in Charlottesville because they send us coupons and because I always like the people working there. After some advice from the guy behind the counter and a lot of deliberation at the sunglasses wall, I went with the Performance Quatro.
They have 4, count'em 4 interchangeable lenses: clear, grey, yellow, and brown, which cover all possible lighting conditions that we'll encounter. I was incredibly happy with them...until I wore them outside the next day. The holes right under the top frame, which I suppose are meant to let air through, also of course let sun through, and that created a small problem. They create bright spots at the upper edge of my vision that don't affect what I see but are certainly annoying. I almost returned them but I didn't have much time before my next planned ride, so I convinced myself that I would get used to them. And so far they haven't been bad. My helmet straps tend to push sunglasses up higher on my face and against my forehead, and in that position I can barely see any sun dots. I don't think I'll be bothered after all.
I've encounter another problem, however: the difficulty of popping the lenses in and out. Instructions are included and theoretically easy to follow, but squeezing and moving the nosepiece was a massive struggle each time and I think I may have bent it. I hope I get better with practice or these multi-lens shades are much less convenient than they seem. I should have bought a pair like Kyle's that have two separate lenses - much easier to move in and out. The fit and the comfort level are great, however, and I'm not going to buy another pair without giving these sunglasses a thorough trial run. We'll see how they do.
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| posted at: 09:01 |
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