The riding group, which organise regular excursions via Facebook, consisted of various groups cycling at different speeds – Murphy made her way up the ranks:  “From there, I started riding with the faster groups – and then I started mingling with some of the guys who raced. They explained more about the racing side of things. I just took it up on a whim.”

From first getting her bike, to her first race, there was only a six month gap. Murphy says: “It was pretty quick. I did two races before the stage race – Ras Na mBam. But the two races I did where really quite far apart. They became my goals for the year – I didn’t realise it was the kind of thing that happened every week! I signed up for those and trained for them a bit like people do for a marathon or something. Once it was over I was like ‘ohh no more racing for a bit!’ I didn’t realise people raced most weekends!”

“It’s nice to have a goal and have something to focus on. Otherwise I just go to the gym kind of aimlessly, to tick it off”

Many road racers will be competing once a week or more  – and Murphy says: “It’s bizarre now, to be in a team, and racing regularly. It’s nice to have a goal and have something to focus on. Otherwise I just go to the gym kind of aimlessly, to tick it off.”

Of course, being a scholarship rider, with a team bike and kit, Murphy’s training has stepped up – but her hours aren’t as brutal as we expected.

A PhD student studying Neuroscience, she’s got plenty of work on her plate and said: “I do about 50 per cent of training outdoors and 50 per cent indoors now. I actually do most of it on the weekend – I can notch up around eight hours over Saturday and Sunday, then I do maybe an hour a day in the week.”

“When you see riders on TV you assume they have the best of everything, that everything is perfectly dialled – and it is, but there’s no magic trick to it, you just have to be consistent.”

We expected a regime of multiple hours, daily – and Murphy tells us the relaxed attitude to training in the peloton was unexpected to her, too: “It really surprised me how autonomous you can be over your own training and how normal you can be about it. When you see riders on TV you assume they have the best of everything, that everything is perfectly dialed – and it is, but there’s no magic trick to it, you just have to be consistent.”

Murphy’s training is all self-organised and defined – she says: “I don’t have a coach. I love working out – I work in an office so I’m sat down most of day. Training is a great way to get rid of some stress.  There’s no magic trick to it – if I feel good I push myself, if I’m tried I take it back a bit and take it easy. I think that’s the basics of training – it’s finding a balance.”

“You need a bit of grit to push yourself harder than is comfortable. And you’ve got to be disciplined.”

She adds: “To be successful – in terms of training – you’ve got to be consistent and you’ve got to be able to push yourself. You need a bit of grit to push yourself harder than is comfortable. And you’ve got to be disciplined – all those tiny things, getting up early to miss traffic, make a big difference.”

To be a successful rider, she says there is more: “Without sounding cheesy – I think you need to be nice and make friends – cycling is a network – people need to like you as a rider.”

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Murphy will be an ambassador rider with the Boot Out Breast Cancer Cycling Club – which is open for all to join. She said: “Racing your bike is very different to riding your bike – I hope we can help to bridge that gap. Loads of my friends are interested in riding a bike, but racing seems intimidating – and it would be nice to smooth over that transition.”

Find out more about Boot Out Breast Cancer, the club who Murphy will ride for, and you can join – here.