Arranged to meet a mate at 0615 this AM 1 hour from home. Alarm at 0420. Left the house at 0510 and was actually on time for once. Waited 5 minutes then gave up. Found him waiting round the next corner

Rest of the ride was good, steady effort. Cloudy but dry. The Park had quite a few deer hanging about. Bridge over the river had the usual rank air quality. The London ULEZ is great and EVs are everywhere but there are a few hotspots where you still get nightmare buildups and often too much diesel exhaust.

Then we got to the usual crit circuit of the embankment along the northern side of the Thames and a guy came past on a Pinarello with no baggage and some private jet company jersey . Damn he was quick. Managed to hold his wheel for a bit then decided I’d die if I carried on and had to drop. Remaining 2 km of the ride I was in recovery mode haha.