| Journey Beyond Reason - Excerpt
1 |
 |
| "In some of the hard journeys
in my past I have looked back at what I've done and known that
if I would not have been capable of replicating the experience.
So hard were some of my cycling journeys that any repeat of
unnecessary effort filled me with dread. I would soon realise
that this journey was to hold the same fear. The bar had been
set at a high level and that linked to the same self-imposed
pressure to succeed. Each day was dependent on conditional achievement;
that is to say, should I stop reaching the project's goals,
the journey as a whole could not be successful - there is a
point when the little time you lose each day cannot be made
up. You have simply fallen too far behind to stand a chance
of rescuing the record. I knew already that this was the last
time I would attempt such a circumnavigation by motorcycle.
Each day could be my nemesis. If I didn't reach the time and
distance that was necessary to win back my record, I knew I
would suffer for the rest of my life. This was a position I
didn't want to go to as it reminded me of the time when my father
died. I missed his actual passing away. His last breath was
spent alone and I got to his bedside minutes too late. That
instant, I knew, I would not forgive myself and I never have.
Journeys can be seen as examples of standards of what you might
expect from your life. The 50 heroes who sailed with Jason on
the Argo in the quest for the Golden Fleece were as one in their
commitment to succeed. Argus built the boat and Tiphys and Ancaeus
were the pilots. I felt like them as I nailed my every waking
hour to the hero's post; it was easier to win the battle than
lie ignominiously in defeat."
|
|
|
|
|
