My lovely Gunnar has V-brakes, and they've never been a problem. Today I did a 27 mile ride and had significant problems with my brakes.

I just didn't have the stopping power I expected to have which means that when I DID have to stop, I was still going faster than I should have been. This led me to fall once, then I almost got ran over because I....just...couldn't...get....stopped in time. Thankfully the pickup was paying attention and he stopped for me. Whewww! I don't know if he realized that there was a problem or if I was just being clueless, but he stopped.

I've never tried to adjust my brakes, and am a little nervous to do so. There hasn't been any problems in recent rides, just today. Is there something I can check as far as troubleshooting is concerned? Neither brake is dragging, that was the first thing I checked.