Wind is the invisible enemy. Gravity has its rules and it plays by them; sometimes they’re harsh but they are always fair. Wind on the other hand has no rules and can be as demoralising and as challenging as riding with a triangular wheel.
The road from Mima to Tokushima City followed, as it did yesterday the Yoshino River. This river, as most do, flowed downhill and therefore the road also went downhill. I could see clearly that it went downhill. But I couldn’t feel it.
I know gravity, I thought. It is always just. If I’m going up then it will resist but when I’m going down it will turn my wheels for me. But it wasn’t working today. The road went down but my legs needed to push as if I were going up.

The wind! The wind! I cried out like Quasimodo. It bashed me in the face the whole way and slowed me to a measly 16km/hr. And all the while the sun baked the back of my calves.
I got to Tokushima and ate a giant pizza.