Map reference: Turbo session at home, 23.5k, 45 minutes

Carbs and Caffeine: managed to get first caffeine hit at Waterloo, on way to Tate Britain. No cake, none whatsoever

I’ll admit the picture above is fairly random, bear with me. My mission today was to get through one of Bealsey’s turbo sessions and then get to Waterloo by 11. I just about made it. It meant jumping on the bike straight after the school run, and then jumping in the bath – briefly – and running out of the house to get to the station. In fact I ran most of way to the station.

It was worth it though. My friend Helen and I went to see Conflict Time Photography at Tate Britain. Here the picture of the Army Cyclist Corps comes in, just about. In the exhibition there was a picture of the cycle corp of HMS Hermes. Unfortunately I was too chicken to take a snap, so the picture above is of the Army Cyclist corp in 1917 (from the Imperial War Museum collection, I hope they forgive me for borrowing the image). The pictures are similar. The bikes heavily loaded and uniformed men chatting idly. It looks like the sort of convivial meeting you see at Roehampton Cafe in Richmond Park, until you remember these men were in the middle of a bloody war.

Sort of puts my worries about ‘battling’ the Alps into perspective.

Note to self: Out tomorrow, fresh air. Cold, fresh air. Layers, layers, layers …