Helen McKay recalls meeting the team and navigating potholes

I was doubly nervous because this would be the first time the team would meet as Team CTC.

The women's racing scene is even smaller than the women's cycling scene (which we all hope will change), so we are not strangers. That said, there's a kind of nervousness that comes with meeting people you know in new circumstances. This manifested itself in nervous giggles. Luckily Nikki found an age-old method of breaking the ice by stepping in a doggy-do.

We had been asked to meet in a café in Hackney which was great because it meant we could add caffeine into the mix of nervous giggles and our natural inability to understand the poor photographer’s instructions.  Herding cats would have been easier.

After some group shots outside the café, the photographer bravely suggested that we get on our bikes and go into the marshes for some action shots. Asking us to ride together in a group was OK, but then asking that we did it so that each person could be seen, whilst at the same time avoiding the large potholes, riding towards her, and smiling, resulted in a lot of takes and much more giggling.

Having got thoroughly cold whilst getting individual portraits done, we raced back to the café for lunch and a manager’s briefing, going through calendar, kit, bikes, etc.