Went for a ride this morning. When my riding partners mentioned the planned route I realized I would be out at least one hour, and possibly two, more than I had anticipated. I thought about my wife at home, who had been out late both nights prior. Thought about one of my children, who had a fever last night and was up at 2:30 AM. Thought about the other kid, who was merely up at 4:45 for no very good reason.

The more I thought about these things the more I realized my achilles tendon- the good one, not the one that was already injured- was starting to feel strained. This got me more and more worried as I rode. The last thing I needed was to rehab both tendons, and the first one got bad in the first place on a completely ordinary ride where it just started feeling sore and I kept going, thinking it would be better once I got some ice on it at home.

Finally, I decided it wasn’t worth the risk and told my riding partners I was turning around. The AT continued bothering me for a few more miles, but then the most amazing thing happened- before I even got halfway home the pain went away completely!

I take two important lessons from this: first, listen to your body. Second, and probably more important, listen to your conscience. When it tells you to keep a ride on the short side, it isn’t joking around.