Close Call

Today I was reminded of precious life is. I made a very irresponsible decision and assumption during our ride today that could have taken away my life or worse, one of my teammates.

I sometimes find I get too into training while on the bike and disregard safety while on the roads. I feel I own the road i'm riding and the drivers should accommodate to me. It could be the lack of blood flow to the brain or just plain stupidity but I often catch myself making split decisions that benefit the ride and not my safety.

I reckon I was about half a second away from being killed today. I made a left hand turn while not stopping at a stop sign and was 10 feet away from being T-Boned by a Garbage Truck traveling about 70kph. Worse yet, i had a teammate behind me who could very easily have followed my lead and been the victim. After narrowly avoiding the collision I immediately thought Austin could be dead. Luckily he was a bit further behind and was able to see things unfold and made the safe decision.

I am still shaken up about it, especially with what has happened in the last week with triathletes and road accidents. Today will no doubt change my ways in regards to safety on the roads, its a shame it took this near death experience to make me come to my senses.

Lucky to live another day.

Ride Safe.