How was your ride today?

Never tried that approach. Looks like derived from football? How about deep heat liniment as well?

I highly recommend this ride if in North East UK.
Hard in places riding on gravel, dirt, sand, stone, long flat road and countryside lanes. Lots of gates open and closing on of road parts.
Fantastic views that compete with Taiwan East coast.
Private beach enclaves, ride through field of laid back black cattle and chilled out sheep.





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Got in my first “accident” today because a dumbass scooter kept going instead of stoping. May or may not have called them that too >.> Thankfully I just bruised up my leg.

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Isn’t that what they always do?

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Same with cars lol

Nice ride in the hills above Danshui & Sanzhi today. Slowly getting used to a new saddle, with occasional adjustments to figure out what’s better. But since I haven’t gone swimming in a few months, my back’s starting to ache more, which is making those adjustments tough to figure out!

The temperatures are much better for cycling now than they were a month ago. I had a crazy moment today when I thought “Oh, fall is in the air!”, immediately followed by “WHAT?!” (This was at 450m elevation, so it was only mildly insane.) It’s still hot, but at least now going uphill at 11am just feels uncomfortable, rather than potentially dangerous.

Question / issue: in the past few months I’ve been having increasing problems with burning eyes. I’m pretty sure it’s from sweat in my eyes - it always happens on slow long (hot) climbs; today, twice in one climb I had to stop and recover because my eyes were burning so much. I got home five hours ago and my eyes are still sore now, which is a new and worrying development. What puzzles me is why I haven’t had this problem before.

What’s changed:

  • Different cycling cap under the helmet, vs an increasingly graying/yellowing skull cap (is that the term?) I had before, to try to catch the sweat before it becomes a problem.
  • Wearing normal glasses now, rather than contacts + sunglasses I had before. I’m wondering if the lack of tinting is a factor.
  • Using a cycling buff for the first time, due to masking regulations - this is also why I’m wearing glasses, because with the buff my sunglasses kept misting up. I’ve been wondering if either the cap or the buff could be emitting (gassing?) something that’s making the burning worse.
  • Wearing sunscreen less often than before, because of the buff - which is part of what confuses me. I’d have thought these problems would be more likely with sunscreen and contacts, but the opposite seems the case for me.

Any ideas for addressing / solving this? Thanks!

My eyes were burning the other day and into the night and I suspect it was high UV.

Today’s.

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Thanks. Hmm, maybe it’s a combination of UV and sweat. It’s almost definitely sweat that’s the immediate cause - but perhaps my eyes are already “primed” to hurt and damaged (and oh boy that’s unpleasant to think about) by not wearing sunglasses. The fact that today my eyes are still sore hours later does point to UV.

I’ve always disliked light-adaptive glasses (just feel they look a bit dickish, for reasons I’ve never understood), but perhaps I should look into them for my next pair - which I need pretty soon anyway. Either that or figure out multifocal contacts, and use those with sunglasses. I’m fairly sure I don’t want prescription sunglasses, because too often when I go riding I’ll return after dark, or spend time on roads shaded by trees or mountains. Until this year I’ve always used contacts + sunglasses, but stupid middle-age means that, with my current contacts, I can’t read my phone, or watch, or menus, or perhaps even change a tire (haven’t tested that one yet).

Are you more forward or downward looking in your new saddle? Gravity and the sweat going right into your eyes?

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I finally finally made it out. Some south side romping in Maokong and Ah Rou Yang. Finished the ride with 40km and about 1000m of elevation. I cannot ask for much more!

I ended up using the PITA mask that @marasan was using before as I know it breaths much better than the medical masks that most people are wearing. I carry a medical mask with me just in case we make a prolonged coffee/food stop or for emergencies. With the temps up in the mid 30s yesterday, it was bearable, for most of the ride as it was early in the day, but was immediately soaked after the first climb.

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Another new bike?

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Well done, and welcome back to outside roads! But I gotta ask: were you trying to make some kind of optical illusion with the railings behind the bike? It’s confusing to look at!

Oh, that’s a clever idea … no, I don’t think my position’s changed in that way, but I’ll pay attention to that next time I’m out. Plus this preceded the new saddle.

The problem only arises on longer & slower climbs: a few days ago, towards the top of Balaka, and today on the 北7 / 大湖路 up from Qianshuiwan (淺水灣). I guess it’s the combination of more exertion, plus less wind to dry off. And the more I think about it, the more I think clear (vs. tinted) glasses make my eyes more susceptible.

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Always wear UV protection while riding. You cannot choose not to look at the sun if that is where the road is going. Taiwan radiation is VERY high. I even wear arm and leg warmers for UV protection in the central hours of the day (that’s from around 8 am to 4 or 5 pm). They are also cheaper than greasing yourself in sun lotion.

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UV looks high some places today.

Surely “arm warmer” is a misnomer, right? You want to make your skin feel cooler, not warm. I’ve seen cyclists wear them in the middle of the summer, but how would long sleeves make you feel cool? I’ve always worn short sleeves during hot days, but lately I’ve been wondering about those arm warmers. Aren’t there ones with materials that actually make your skin feel cooler, on top of protecting it from the UV rays?

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Ditto on both parts. I often don’t even bother with sunscreen on my arms later in the summer, figuring it’ll sweat off pretty fast anyway. My arms don’t burn but I fear what problems I may be giving myself in the future.

I’ve read that if you’re sweating you should reapply sunscreen every ninety minutes or so … that’s a lot of sunscreen! Plus my past efforts at putting on sunscreen when already a sweaty mess have been less than successful.

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Yeah, I don’t know why they are called arm/leg warmers in English, but as far as I know they are all called the same. No matter if they’re for winter or summer.

Summer ones are made of the same materials as jerseys/shorts. Those give you a good UV protection (I had very bad experiences in the past) while avoiding all the mess with sunscreen and sweat.

Under direct sunlight, they also help your body keep the temperature low, since the sun is not directly hitting your skin. Think about the tuareg clothes in the Sahara desert.

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I’ve had this one for a bit now :wink:

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And then there is this guy

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