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Heart rate: 185bpm, my lungs feel like I'm inhaling fire, they're searing, every breath is bringing a wheeze with it that makes me sound like I've got emphysema, need to take deeper breaths. 

Shouts ringing in my ears. 

I need to get out of the saddle, keep turning the pedals.  Cowbells. 

I'm staring at my front wheel, hunched low over the bars, trying to wrestle the bike up hill faster than it wants to go.

My first covert scout around the Eurobike halls involved dodging tooled up tattooed blokes and fork lift trucks manoeuvring pallets of bikes still to be put on display ready for the show to open in less than 24 hours time.

Here she is; isn't she a beauty? After much Allen key wielding and dirt on the fingernails and just a little bit of sweat, I've finally got the Cannondale SuperSix Evo finished.

It’s been a while since I last built a bike and, to be honest, I forget just how much fun the whole process is. From carefully sourcing all the right components to then seeing the bike slowly (very slowing, in this case) take shape, gives you such a good deal of satisfaction.

And just like that, the evenings are beginning to draw in earlier and earlier. Kind of sneaks up on you, doesn't it?

It's been a funny old summer, but now isn't the time to dwell on what should have been. Instead this is the time of year to make the most of what nice weather we do get treated to.

Last night for instance. The sun was shining high in the sky, the day's work was done, I headed out for a couple of hours. Threading through the suburbs of London I rolled into Surrey countryside. And it was wonderful.

When I headed out on to the roads of East Sussex yesterday to test ride the new Merckx EMX-3 Ultegra Di2, borrowed from i-ride.co.uk for the day, I wasn't expecting to have to dig out an item of clothing from the depths of my wardrobe.

Usually reserved for spring and serving as a transitional item of clothing, from the winter protection of overshoes to naked shoes in the summer, oversocks are a handy accessory when it's a bit cold and damp. As it was yesterday.

There's nothing quite like the enjoyment of building your own bicycle. Sure, rolling out of the bike shop on a brand new bike is pretty immense, but for ultimate satisfaction you can't beat building one yourself.

One of the best things we've seen on Twitter over the past three weeks as Bradley Wiggins has headed towards Tour de France glory have been the short poems - 140 characters or less, naturally - tweeted by Le Tour en Franglais at the end of each stage. They've certainly brightened our evenings up, and we thought they deserved a wider audience, so with the creator's kind permission, here is the whole of the 2012 Tour de France in verse.

"Nobody said it was easy,
ah it's such a shame for us to part
Nobody said it was easy,
no-one ever said it would be so hard
…i'm going back to the start"

I think all of us felt a pang of sorrow as our coach turned its back to the Pyrenees and headed towards Toulouse. All were relieved to see the mountains behind them, but many were planning their next trip back to see the mountains that had remained hidden from them behind the curtain of mountain mist.

Stage 16