Close calls

Tired today. So very tired. Not really due to training or a lack of sleep, just residual fatigue from Rottnest. Who knew having a holiday would be so exhausting.

Waking up this morning and getting on the bike wasn't too tough, but getting myself out for a run this afternoon was a real effort. I haven't been that close to flagging a session for quite some time. The thing is though that I think I could have skipped the run and felt very little guilt about it. I am tired and when I train tired is when I tend to get injured or sick. That was at the back of my mind. Plus it I was keen to spend some time with the family since it feels like I haven't seen them since we got back from Rottnest.

In the end I got myself out for the run. I am glad I did. The tiredness excuse was valid, but possibly a bit more of an excuse than a real reason. Seeing the family, well that is always a real thing, but what can I say, Triathlon is a selfish sport I guess. Unfortunately heading out for this run isn't the first selfish thing I have done in the name of this sport and it won't be the last. I was back in time for bedtime stories though. That counts for something.

The ride this morning was good other than nearly dying twice of course. Okay nearly dying is a bit of an overstatement, but I was lucky on both counts. I was riding the Falco V which I haven't ridden since Rottnest Long Course. The bike was still set up for my race wheels and so last night I swapped the wheels over to my 50mm deep Caden wheels. I got these wheels for this bike and so I was keen to get them fitted. It took me a while to get the front brake adjusted for the different wheel, so when I got to the back wheel I was in a bit of a rush. The brakes looked about right, I was taking my disc off the back which is about the same width as the Caden rims and so I figured brakes wouldn't need adjustment. I must admit I didn't test it as much as I had tested the front brake. Turns out that when it comes to brakes 'about right' isn't always right enough.

In the living room the brake seemed okay, but I wasn't far into the ride when I realised my stopping power just wasn't what it was supposed to be. I was slowing for corners etc okay, but to my horror, I found that my emergency braking was nowhere near where it needed to be. Coming up to a round-about I saw that a car was using the round-about to do a U-turn. Nothing wrong with that, I do that all the time. The car was doing everything right, even indicating. I just couldn't stop in time.  I had that awful moment where everything is in slow motion and you know you don't have anywhere to go. In the end I went straight through the round-about in front of the car. If they hadn't been such a careful driver and already driving slowly it could have been much worse. I have no defence, I did everything wrong. I felt pretty bad about it and also very fortunate.

The second close call was less of my fault. I was coming under a bridge around a blind corner to find a father on a bike towing a child in a trailer on the wrong side of the cycleway. Not much I could have done about that,but it would have been much easier to take evasive action if I could have stopped quickly. In the end we missed each other but it was close.

Sometimes it is the little things that can have big consequences.

Time to adjust those brakes I think.