After waking up in Oxford I look outside to see pouring rain. I signed up to bike but certainly not in the pouring rain, the radar said it was going to be raining for another 2 hours or so which gave me time to have a relaxing morning and make sure all the ducks were in a line for the day to come.

once the rain stopped and the sun came out I went outside to feel this horrible barreling wind. It was 40kmph constant wind with 74kmph gusts all heading east, as I head west into the Cotswolds.

this was truly one of the most mentally trying days of my life.

It was like every pedal was needed double the effort to move me half the distance. It was genuinely so hard and I was so discouraged with each passing moment. It felt truly horrible. But it is a complete mental game as I was not bodily fatigued in the slightest. At one point I stopped myself and had words with myself to put myself in line and force myself to understand that this is what I want to do and that I have put too much effort in at this point that I can’t quit and I can’t just let myself down.

In a way that is surely a good mentality to have. Never giving up. But there also becomes. A point where you need to separate the struggle and the understanding that I am also on vacation so I need to do what will make me most happy, not necessarily what will help me complete this mission in a more efficient time frame. It is still very easy to get lost in the wrong motivations for the trip.

I made it through each of the towns I wanted to in the cotswolds but I did not stop to enjoy them. I felt I needed to make up more time and distance than enjoy the places I picked out to go to. Very silly mistake that will have an impact on how I treat this trip after.