Lachlan Morton has struggled with headwinds in his round Australia record attempt over the past few days, but he broke the 10,000 km mark on Thursday afternoon and is now riding the long exposed roads of the Nullarbor Plains.

Morton's average daily mileage of over 400 km may have dropped a bit since the EF Education Easy Post rider passed the halfway point in northern Western Australia. He was at 476 km then; he is now at 466 km. But Morton was still well ahead of his goal as he began day 22 of his circumnavigation of Australia. The plan had been to complete the Australian circumnavigation in 35 days. However, if he continued at this pace, he would return the 14,201 km to Port Macquarie in less than 31 days.

According to EF Education-EasyPost, Morton is attempting to break the record of 37 days, 20 hours, and 45 minutes for 14,251 km set by Dave Alley in 2011. The record was first officially set by Cycling Australia and Guinness World Records in 1996, with 14,200 km being the minimum distance.

There is also a record of 37 days and 1 hour and 18 minutes achieved by Reid Anderton in 2013, which Guinness World Records, in response to an inquiry from Cycling News, confirmed that there is currently no minimum distance requirement of 14,200 km and that this listed as a record. In any case, both are likely to become old records within two weeks.

But first, Morton must tackle the next major challenge. The seemingly endless, linear Eyre Highway, which stretches nearly 1,000 kilometers across the flat, arid terrain of the Narraber Plains. Morton was plagued by headwinds more often than not as he made his way down Western Australia, and at the beginning of his Day 20 Instagram update, he joked that “the next episode of Lachlan's headwinds is coming.” He was elated by the increasingly green terrain, including Perth's “great bike paths” and the idyllic back roads of the remote southern part of the state.

“I feel like I'm in no hurry to get anywhere,” he said. 'I just love every moment. It's hilly, it's slow, it's a headwind, but I don't mind.” But from Esperance on the south coast past Norseman, the terrain ahead changes dramatically, with no vegetation and flat terrain that makes it impossible to escape the wind, friend or foe.

At this point in Alley's 2011 trip, he was looking forward to flying, as he had received reports of a tailwind. However, as soon as he passed the Narrabah Plain, the wind turned into a ferocious headwind, and his pace dropped to 9 km/h at one point.

Morton now had a chance to see what Nalabar had in store for him.

Morton's journey can be followed on the live tracking page, and donations can be made on Morton's Indigenous Literacy Fund fundraising page.