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The original was posted on /r/bicycletouring by /u/its-jibbles on 2025-02-11 07:24:43+00:00.

Hi. It’s my first tour, I’m 12 days in. Most days I’m riding 60-80km. It’s summer here. I learned early on I need to drink and eat a lot! Even when I don’t feel hungry. And I’m eating a lot of good, whole foods.

I took two rest days; one on day 8 and one today (there was heavy rain forecast, and I spent the day at an aquarium sketching the fish which I really enjoyed). I’ve been very happy and content every day except my two rest days. Both of those days I’ve felt anxious and overwhelmed, having to remember where all my things are, constant worry my stuff is going to get stolen or lost, just wanting to be alone.

But on the days where I’m cycling, I’m carefree. And feel confident chatting with strangers. It’s like I need a big goal, the familiar structure, and lots of cardio every day to be happy. I feel like my normal depressed self on a rest day. I still bike 5-20km on a rest day, just very light spinning to sightsee and stay sane.

On one day my crank developed issues and I didn’t feel concerned at all. At my campsite in the middle of nowhere, that night, someone loaned me a torque wrench and I was able to fix it. Cool. Today in a city with so many bike stores to choose from, my front wheel had play and I needed to do breathing exercises to calm down. 🤷‍♀️

I’m scared for the trip to end even though it has to end soon, because the bliss I’ve found just pedalling every day has been unbelievable. I’ve been so happy with all this alone time. It’s just these days where I’m supposed to “relax” that I degenerate back into an anxious hermit.

Can you relate? How do you stay happy even on the days where you aren’t going anywhere? Does having an objective or plan for the day help?