Day 171 – Cholet to Fougères

After almost 7 months, this is my last full night abroad… And I intend to spend as much of it as possible asleep… So yeah, you get the idea.

I haven’t quite got my head around that, maybe it’s because I still have to cycle 100 miles tomorrow, and maybe something will sink in when I get on the ferry, but for now I’m still on the road. And quite frankly I feel like I have finally got used to it! Better late than never I suppose.

The ride today was really nice. Shorter than the last couple but no fewer ups and downs. In general though it felt fairly relaxed. Despite the ‘support vehicle’ having a bit of a tantrum.

The last week has been brilliant with the company I have but I still can’t wait to get home. Whilst it has been easier, the pressure (much of which is self-inflicted) and the stress is still there and I don’t think I have felt completely relaxed for almost a year.

In many ways, you would think that the freedom one has when ‘cycling around the world’ eliminates these problems. But unless you are taking years to do it and don’t mind taking a week off every three days (i.e: you don’t have a set time frame) then I think stress is pretty unavoidable. At least it has been for me… And I think that is what I’m looking forward to getting rid of the most.

That all sounds a bit mature for me but I’m going to leave it as is… Last time I wrote something that required thought I decided to lower the tone by finishing with a joke and ended up upsetting a few people. Hope you don’t mind.

Distance: 105.4miles / 169.6km
Riding Time: 6:52:24
Av. Speed: 15.3mph / 24.6kph