Well we did it! And what a day!

Eleven members of Tenby Aces Cycling Club and a support team of four met at the cenotaph in Tenby at 2.40 in the early hours of Saturday (Armed Forces Day) ready to set off on the longest ride any of them had ever done, in aid of the popular Help for Heroes charity.

Riders were Andrew Milward, Gareth Rees, Jon Mills, Carlton Coates, Tanis Hand, Pat Currie, Carl Evans, Darryl Cavill, Richard Harrison, Phil Jenkins and Steve Lewis.

Support crew was John Shuttleworth, Nigel Lewis, Mandy Cavill and Janina Evans.

While many people were on their way home, we were setting off for our adventure, and amazingly one of the soldiers based in Penally for the next few weeks actually came along and told us he was going to be cycling down from New Hedges later in the day! We were going to be really pleased to see him later on!

With lights on, we set off in the fog, through the Five Arches and down the Norton, then off on the main road to St Clears at a pretty fast pace. We continued down the dual carriageway to Carmarthen and then took the Kidwelly road, stopping for our first comfort break after about 40 miles near Kidwelly.

On to Llanelli, Gowerton and Swansea, and at around 7.30 am stayed on the main road up Fabian Way out of Swansea and on to Port Talbot. The only major excitements of the day happened in Swansea. Pat fell off his bike whilst stationary, having failed to get his foot out of the pedal in time (easily done). We nearly lost our chairman Andrew as he took the wrong turn and very nearly ended up on the M4 heading back to Carmarthen (perhaps he was on auto-pilot)! Luckily neither of them was hurt.

On to Margam and another break at 75 miles for some more snacks and special cream that we renamed 'Utterly Butterly' to be applied to various unmentionable parts - we all must have the softest bottoms in the county, judging by the amount used!

We were by now ready for the last stage of the morning, straight down the A48 via Bridgend to the Welsh Institute of Sport at Cardiff, just over 100 miles in all so far! We reached Cardiff at about 10.30 am - it felt like mid-afternoon, and the weather was getting pretty hot by now.

So it was lunch and a sit-down on anything softer than a saddle, then back to business, having managed an average cycling speed of 16 mph so far.

With people expecting us home by 7.30 pm, we needed to keep up a good pace, and none of us knew how we would feel when we got to the hills around Kidwelly with 170 miles in our legs.

The pace was good and the breaks were short as we retraced our steps. It was very hot and the traffic wasn't as heavy as we expected, so we made good time and kept up our average speed. People were very supportive all along the way, even passing money out of car windows as they passed!

On the second half, the support crew really came into their own - they had been fantastic early in the day, giving out food and drink supplies, but now they stepped up the support a notch. They passed us drinks, made us laugh by dressing up in different costumes and wigs - they ranged from bunny rabbits, nuns, Scottish people and fairies, to name only a few of their kits.

Somehow they managed to keep smiling - it was great to see them as they parked up in laybys and cheered us as we passed, and fun when they took pictures and videos of us in all sorts of poses along the way. Hours of video and over 600 photos were taken, so hopefully a few will be up on the Tenby Aces website soon! Go to http://www.tenby-aces.co.uk">www.tenby-aces.co.uk in a few days to see if any have gone on, and to find more about the cycling club of Tenby.

Amazingly, we got to Red Roses by 6 pm, with half-an-hour in hand! We had a break in the Sporting Chance, where the staff had laid on some very welcome sandwiches, and the customers were extremely generous!

Then on to New Hedges, where we met the Coastguards, Fire Engine, two Army trucks and our group of cyclists, including our new friend from 16 hours before! We attempted to stand in line for our pictures, then made our way steadily down to Tenby and along the Norton for a few more pictures near the harbour, and our last few pedal strokes to the cenotaph, another 103 miles and just under 13 hours of cycling later.

We were met with a wonderful cheer from the crowd that was waiting, including the Mayor of Tenby, Clr. Mrs. Sue Lane, friends and relatives and many of the schoolchildren who had made posters to decorate the fence around the cenotaph. It was an amazing feeling being cheered back home and we all felt pretty emotional! Thanks to everyone for waiting for us and being so supportive!

Our evening was completed at the Tenby Bowling Club, who have been busy making money for H4H. The bikes were tucked away safely and we cleaned up before having a feast put on by the members of the club, headed up by Chris White, who has been working relentlessly for months organising fund-raising events in support of the cause.

There is a Giant bike on raffle for just £1 a ticket - go to the Bowling Club or Tenby Cycles to buy a ticket for the chance to win the bike - tickets will only be available for another couple of weeks.

We will officially thank everyone who has helped us when we add up the sum collected ready for a presentation later in the summer, but today the 11 of us who rode must thank John, Nigel, Mandy and Janina, without whom the day would have been at least twice as difficult!

Well done to everyone who took past - it was no easy challenge for anyone, and the team worked really well together to keep the pedals turning and the miles going by. A massive thanks to everyone who has supported us and those who will yet!

TANIS HAND