Sometimes we wear em. Sometimes we don’t bother. Sometimes we’re in a rush. Sometimes they annoy us. All the eye specialists say we should, but so often we manage just fine without. But after this ride, one man decided never to leave home without them.

He almost put them on before the ride, but then he thought, it’s a short ride, done it dozens of times before, there are no overhanging branches to worry about, it’s not windy or particularly dusty. She’ll be right. So he rode without protective eyewear – left them at home.

All went well. He had a mighty fine ride on the fire trails of Kincumber Mountain. No drama. He was cruising home on the side of a bitumen back road when he felt a sudden agonising pain in his left eye. He had copped the thin tip of a robinia tree branch fair smack in his left eyeball. Hadn’t noticed the branch at all till he felt it. His New Years Eve was spent in the emergency department and half his New Years Day at the eye specialist.

Took 2 weeks for the blood to disperse. Thankfully the injury mostly missed his cornea so no permanent damage was done

Despite the nuisance of sweat dripping onto your glasses and the need to clean them frequently, specially on hot days, Paul has worn his photo chromatic glasses on every ride since this incident.  He has vowed to do that from now on.

And should he become negligent in this matter, I’ll point him back to this blog post.