My first (and second) close call

[greatmaul]

So I've been commuting about every other day for a couple of weeks with no problems, then... 2 slightly close calls on the same day.

The first, I was rolling down a city street near a gas station, and I saw several cars on the right, signalling, waiting to shoot across the road. I was covering the brakes anyway, and I kept some attention on them without focusing on them, when, sure enough, just as I rode up, a guy pulled right out, saw me coming, and stopped his car right in front of me.

It was such a textbook event, and I was glad that my response was textbook also. I didn't stare at the car, but just paid attention to the space I had on the road. I was already hard on the brakes, and could have stopped cold, but instead released the brakes and swerved right around the back of his car.

Much later (like, 10 hours) I was almost home and getting into the foothills where I live, and I had deer on my mind, because they're fairly common here. I round a curve at around 50mph and: deer. Hard on the brakes again, and even though the deer was scampering towards the shoulder, I kept braking. I was glad I did, because it changed directions and scampered off the other shoulder. One thing I've read is that deer are unpredictable, and it's better to slow as much as possible rather than try to steer around them.

So, that was my day, and I was actually really happy and kind of proud. No target fixation, no braking while swerving, good anticipation of problems, and no crash.