I had a Blood Bowl match to wake up to at 7 this morning (a 1-0 loss where I almost got a draw, and enjoyed more than I expected after a lacklustre first half). Then, fed with biscuit and fruit, I rode my bike down to the climbing wall and did an hour’s bouldering.
I have a few goals at the moment; to be able to climb more things than I could the previous week, and to not get injured. I’m quite proud of myself that I did both. When the joint on my right little finger was beginning to blister, I stopped, bought tape and protected it so nothing bad happened, and I did most of the routes I attempted today, including ones I failed at last week. When it got close to ten and I was weakening, I went home.
On the way out, I’d stopped at a cafe and got a rather rubbery maple syrup glazed doughnut, and a coffee, which I drank while riding along. Most of the coffee; I spilled some inside my bike, but that didn’t make it go faster or slower. There was a bit of a wobble in the front of my bike, which depressed me. I figured there was a bearing failing in the headset, and headsets are not something I’m good at replacing.
Still, I got home, we had a call with my sister, and then I persuaded the girls they should go to the market with me and get hot dogs. So, back on my bike, and we wobbled off to the market.
I’d had another coffee at home and so the total caffeine made me feel dreadful; the combination of the crash from the coffee, fatigue and not enough food left me feeling faint and tetchy. The bike felt even wobblier with both girls on it and the dodgy headset, and when we got to the market the hot dog stand was absent, so I had to ride home again, feeling like death.
I parked the bike up, the kids dismounted and I tried to check the headset, and then realised it was fine. What was wrong was the quick release on the front wheel was undone, so at any point if we’d ridden off a curb or over a bump, the front wheel could have come right off and we’d all get wrecked. So that’s something scary to remember to check on future rides…
The rest of the day didn’t give further opportunities to avoid calamity. We watched some more of the Great British Bake Off, then I had two more games of Blood Bowl, and then to bed…