Vision is an essential part of biking and if you can’t see where you’re going you’ll ride less smoothly and more slowly – plus there’s nothing worse than having to stop half way down your favourite trail to rub some muddy puddle water out of your eyes.

Try these three techniques to keep your eyes focussed on the trail ahead

Goggles and enduro helmet

Don’t be afraid to unleash your inner enduro

Goggles offer maximum protection from flying crud, sealing off half your face from the elements. The extra coverage also means contact lens-users can ride without fear of grit in the eye — 100 per cent makes our current favourite tinted lens. The look’s not for everyone, though, so keep them for uplift days or Alpine riding.

Look out for…

Pair your goggles with a dedicated enduro helmet (or full-face) and you get little clips to hold the stretchy strap in place, or even hold it snugly to the back of your helmet when you’re not wearing them.

Big glasses

Slim shady

Cooler than goggles and way less ‘enduro’, glasses are the eye protection of choice for most of us. The biggest we’ve found are Adidas’s Evil Eye Evo — they feel great, and offer maximum protection. The new Tifosi Elder glasses are superb too. If you wear corrective lenses then your best approach is to get a dedicated prescription lens for riding too — try eyepod.net or optilabs.com

Look out for…

Get multiple lens options — clear for murky winter conditions, light tint for the mountains. Forget fashion and go for maximum coverage with wrap-around lenses.

Mudguard

Try riding without glasses in dry conditions — you might even end up seeing more as there will be nothing to mist up in front of you. Take the eye protection to the front wheel instead and fit a good mudguard to save your eyes when you hit that rogue puddle. The Powa Dfender is pricey but very robust and really wraps the wheel.

>>> Click here to find the best mountain bike winter tyres

Look out for…

Forget about the back wheel — mud can’t get to your eyes from there. Instead, get a good front guard and make sure it moves with the wheel and doesn’t fix to the static part of the fork.