In a picture posted on social media Irish cyclist Orla Walsh is smiling at the camera, she's holding a bottle of whiskey in one hand and a cigarette in the other.
Next to that picture is another of Walsh, she is smiling in that one too but it reaches her eyes this time. She is dressed in her cycling gear, standing on a podium clutching a prize she has just won.
The pictures were taken four years apart but they seem like there are light years away from each other.
Walsh has been on a remarkable journey since 2015 and because of social media she will never forget how far she has come.
She has built a sizable online following by sharing her journey from party girl to elite athlete and there is no going back now.
"I hadn’t planned on doing it," explained Walsh who features in a new RTÉ documentary series 'We Run the World'.
"I had the Facebook memories come up from a few years back of me drinking out of a whiskey bottle on the street and at the time I had just come back from a three hour spin.
"And it struck me how much had changed in such a short space of time and I thought it would be interesting to do a before and after for my social media and people really responded well to it.
"I got a lot of messages from people saying they could relate to my story and it’s inspiring and then from then I decided, okay well this is helping other people so I’ll keep doing the ‘Transformation Tuesday’ is what I’ve called them."
By her own admission Walsh partied hard in her teens and early twenties but she studied hard too and secured a place in Trinity College after her Leaving Cert.
During those years there was no time for sport. It wasn’t on her agenda. Her life revolved around going out and then recovering from the excess.
"I spent my teens and early twenties not valuing sport and exercise at all. I smoked for ten years, I went out for ten years. I didn't realise how much of a negative affect that had on my mind and body.
"A part of me wants to say I’m a bit ashamed of how much partying I did, but at the same time all of those years made me who I am today, all of those experiences made me who I am today.
"I don’t really regret those decisions; they’re part of my life so I’ve accepted that's what I chose to do at that time.
"It’s more so embarrassment, because there was so much photographic evidence of my party days, no not regret, it’s part of my life and that’s what I chose to do at the time so it’s made me who I am now.
"I can’t regret the decisions I’ve made, they are what they are."
In 2015 Walsh’s life changed, she enrolled in a Masters in DIT, she had no job and no money and needed a way to commute to college.
Her dad suggested that she take his old road bike and the 10km cycle each way was the start of her cycling career.
"My dad actually cycled in with me that first day, an escort in, he was nervous I was going to get run over by cars in Dublin City centre. Which is a fair point.
"It was actually great, I was surprised at how easy and convenient it was to hop on a bike and get from A to B, I remember saying to my dad after I got to college 'I can’t believe how quick we got in'.
"I was not fit, no I was not fit at all, so I guess looking back it might’ve taken me 30 minutes to get in. Where as last year when I was still commuting in the morning it might’ve taken me only 16 minutes. I shaved off a lot of time by becoming fitter,
"I would’ve just kind of gently cycled in I suppose at the start and I mean it still would’ve been hard because I was completely out of shape. But still enjoyable when you’re on a good bike and the bike my dad had given me was a relatively decent bike."
A year later Walsh joined a local club Orwell Wheelers and started doing weekend spins. She was encouraged by some of the riders in the club to try women’s racing and it didn’t take long for her to be hooked.
"I remember my first race I arrived like 15 minutes before the start, and you don’t do that! You should arrive an hour before make sure there is enough time to sign in.
"The sign on had closed, but the race organiser felt sorry for me and let me race anyway.
In one of the races I ended up finishing 20 minutes after the main group and they had done the podium ceremony and everything
"It was an eye opener, it wasn’t anything like the weekend spins it was next level, these are women who are racing week-in, week-out, every season in Ireland and can I say I got my ass handed to me.
"It was rough. In one of the races I ended up finishing 20 minutes after the main group and they had done the podium ceremony and everything.
"I knew I was failing and that drove to train more and keep coming back. I wanted to do better so just kept me going."
That Winter, Walsh trained hard, in the evening time she was often in the Wicklow hills for three or four hours as well as every weekend.
Her dad brought her an indoor trainer and that helped too, she worked on diet and got race advice. Walsh left no stone unturned and the following season her hard work paid off when she started to get on podiums.
"I knew I could do okay in the races, I didn’t think I’d be making podium after one winter of training I didn’t think that was possible but I’m a savvy bike rider in terms of I know what I’m capable of and I learnt quickly how to get the best of myself in a race."
Last year Cycling Ireland held a talent transfer programme, the small print said that the athletes had to have competed at a national level in another sport but Walsh ignored the small print and applied.
"They looked at quite a few and then brought 40 on to the next phase which was a six-week training programme which I was selected for.
"Then after that six-week period everyone came back in again for a second test. They were taking note on improvements and other physiological changes and selected eight women from that pool and I was part of that.
"It happened so quickly I couldn’t believe, like I didn’t think when I sent in my application that I’d even get tested in the first place.
"So to be in the final eight alongside women who were already playing a national level sport was a bit.. mad.
"I know I experienced a lot of that ‘Imposter Syndrome’ they call it. I was thinking 'they’ve made a mistake I’m not supposed to be here.'
"The eight of us went to several camps abroad in Majorca, Cycling Ireland brought us over there, which obviously was assessing our speed on the track, our technical efficiency and learning how to ride on the velodrome.
"After several camps they did make another cut, they brought it down to a group of four and I was still part of that group of four. So yeah, I’m still here."
The 29-year-old competed at the European Championships in the summer, she didn't have success on the track but learned a lot from the experience.
"We’d only been at one competition before that, so getting the experience of performing in front of a crowd of people and under pressure, you know cameras in your face and the commentators saying your name it can be an overwhelming experience.
"So to get that race experience under the belt is invaluable really for us as a new team."
