Cappuccinos and butterflies

Only one more day at work until the off. Sleep is a bit of a problem at the moment. I am always happy to talk about the bike ride to anyone who'll listen at 3 in the morning. This leaves me needing an extra coffee on the way into work so I can keep awake to talk about the bike ride throughout the day. The coffee stop provides a good opportunity to sit down and talk about the bike ride.

This is our coffee stop in Hyde Park. I pounced on a woman walking past to ask her to take what feels like a momentous photo: our last coffee stop before the bike ride. It was quite an effort to get her to stand in the right place so we could get the bikes in the background. "No, not there, there. No there." And then she was off before we could talk to her about the bike ride.

It's not what you know ...

One of the many joys of adoption is that when your child reaches school age, you get to meet the parents of other school children and they sometimes give you free stuff. A big thank you goes to Steve Dykes, CEO of DecathlonUK, for helping me out with some Btwin cycle gear.

Nice Gear

Steve, you have rescued me from the contempt of cycling purists like cycle 'mate' John, who dismissed what I thought of as rather stylish running shirts with, "You just look like a runner on a bike", and I thank you for this.