Good old Ebay: my new Dura-Ace Shimano brakes, not that they’d have helped today

Map reference: Kingston to Chilworth, and a reverse home, 79 long kilometres

Carbs and caffeine: Costa in Cobham, not very exciting, but just what I needed

Well it was bound to happen. I’ve been having such a great time in the past couple of weeks that I was bound to crash. At least this was only physically not literally, although I was aware that, as I was feeling less than 100 per cent, I needed to be careful on the road. The old IQ drops swiftly when you start fading.

It was supposed to be a long hilly ride with Rob today, as he trains for the Flanders sportive. But by the time we got to 40k around Leith Hill and I had been feeling rubbish the whole way, I knew it was time to bail. Unfortunately, at that stage I was 40k from home, so I turned back and trundled back to Cobham promising myself a large coffee there to get me through the last kilometres.

The smiley barista at Costa asked me how I was as she served me and was probably surprised to be told I was totally rubbish. I think the acceptable answer is an American-style ‘great’. But the bucket of coffee she served me helped me home and now I would like to say to her ‘Have a nice day…’

Note to self: it’s all part of the training. You’ve done 310k since Saturday, bailing perfectly acceptable