Meet Emily Chappell, a hero of mine. A reformed London cycle courier, she’s cycled from Wales to Japan, from Anchorage to Seattle in the depth of winter and raced across Europe on the gruelling Transcontinental Race.

On Thursday 3 March 2016 I took her for lunch – excuse the background noise – and we talked about the joys and perceived pitfalls of riding long distances alone, ice lollies versus ice cream and how riding the Alaska Highway is actually easier than a winters day in the United Kingdom.

Emily’s new book is What Goes Around: A London Cycle Courier’s Story, find out more about it on her fantastic blog: thatemilychappell.com/2016/01/by-the-way/

Music is Beyond the Blue Horizon by The Green Brothers: archive.org/details/GreenBrothers147Songs