Cycling Day One; On your bike!

First of all my sincere apologies to anyone who tried to follow our blog daily.  We struggled to get any 3G coverage and life without a laptop was not working out for us. So here it goes.

Premier Inn all you can eat breakfasts, well what can I say. "A perfect start of the day to four cyclists about to embark on a perilous journey through Wales", well it is listed as one of the hardest cycling challenges going... in the UK.  We all got up at 7.30AM and got stuck in to Premier Inn's awesome brekkie.  All except Ally of course.  Who'd have thought that our token armed service member, OFFICER at that, would be late for breakfast ;-)

In all seriousness all the pieces of the logistical puzzle soon came together with ex-military precision.  Ally and Swifty got to sort out the rendezvous points with some excellent map reading skills on both their parts.  We offloaded any non essentials and off we headed for Brecon.  We thought it would be quiet on the roads and headed South towards our start point, the Norwegian Church in Cardiff Bay.  Our quiet stroll became a suicide mission through the streets of Cardiff.  Kicking wing mirrors, swashbuckling with white van man scaffold poles, and hitting UPS delivery grenades for six.  I think you get the idea, it WASN'T quiet.

Didn't take long for us to get to our start point, I say us. Ally got lost in suburban Cardiff, fended off the urban rapscallions and eventually found her way to the Norwegian Church at Cardiff Bay, late, again!  We confirmed our rendezvous (RV),  Swifty swiftly took charge of map reading duties and off we went.  The first place I recognised was our Senedd (Welsh Assembly) I proudly stood for my first photo of the cycling journey proper.

Then SPD pedalgate debacle began, Mick had invested some hard earned overtime cash in a fine pair of SPD shoes and cleats. We had just got on the Taff Embankment (Approx 4 miles in) when I had to stop to mount a cross kerb, seems I stopped a little to abruptly and Mick was left cursing my idiocy as he rolled himself and his trusty Kona Dew to the right.  I thought "Holy $h1+" good start Georgie, but he took it in good stead and on towards Brecon we trundled.  We were truly amazed at the quality of cycle track we were given, signage out of the city on National Cycle Route 8 was truly amazing (thanks Sustrans).  But as with any journey we had to have diversions and confusion reigned supreme in my head when we approached a crazy diversion leading us up to Taff's Well, I damn near killed everyone with some crazy suburban halting and was lucky to survive a lynching, Ha ha ha.

Swifty's excellent navigational skills had us through in no time and we were fast approaching our very first rendezvous(RV) in Pontypridd. "The Taff Trail" occasionally became our route 8 path and looked after us well, but we were all more than perplexed when we spotted the pretend bikes dotted along the Taff Trail, "I'm just off for a walk on the taff trail and I'll go for a spin on the pretend bike honey" what do you think of them?  Stress soon gripped Mick as we cycled along Merthyr Tydfil.  He was petrified someone familiar might sliiiiiddde out of the brush to say hello,   so much so that he totally missed the Adder that was sunbathing on the track next to his ankles.  Then came the CLIMBING! Argh!!!!!

 We knew things were getting harder when the gradient became a challenge and Rhondda kids jumping into rivers could use X-Ray vision to call us baldies.  All this before Mick was mistaken for a Policeman by Yo'ths on a Dirtbike. "Evening All!"

Then came ADVENTURELAND!   Brecon Beacons National Park was a true treasure.  It's beauty was unrivalled.  It looks and feels different to Snowdonia so it added loads to what I love about my country, so we were a little awestruck.  We blazed through the tracks and the baking 25 degC sunshine only made us appreciate it even more.  We were goosepimple ridden for all the right reasons.  After the Pontsticill reservoir came an experience every single one of the "Cycle Wales for Heroes" will savour for the rest of our lives. Three words "THE TORPANTAU PASS".



Click on this map link for a location of Torpantau>>>>>> http://goo.gl/maps/pK9T








This pass can only be described as a lunatic cyclists paradise.  We got to brow of the Torpantau hill and we were "supposed" to follow National Cycle Route 8 along the very gentle contour passing the Talybont Reservoir before setting up camp in Pencelli Castle.  Swifty with his navigational prowess soon spotted a much more adventurous ride, by deducing that the gradient was crazily straight down, he convinced us we should take the pass rather than the NCR 8.  What an amazing experience. Mick and I was descending at 45mph with both rear and front brakes applied fully.  Hanno and Swifty with apt Mountain Bikes went through the pass like a dose of antacids.  I can only guess at what speed they descended at, probably nearing 55mph.  We were soon to have a meeting with the Brecon Rotary contingent. The road led us nicely into Pencelli Castle for Night one and the Brecon Rotary President, Derek Adams accompanied by his wife very kindly donated £100, amazing, A huge thank you Derek.  WHAT A DAY! Ther rest was well deserved and as for difficulty rating, it has to be a 7/10.

First day in Cardiff Asda

We had a gorgeous drive down in Dafydd Hardy's van. Things were completely sardined to begin with in the van, but after a little reorganising outside my house we were able to get on the road. Even if I was travelling to Cardiff with two 700c wheels on my lap. We stuck to the A470 route through the Cambrian mountains, absolutely stunning.

I was told I couldn't store my pride and joy in my room so there was a bit of a James Bond mission to get her into safety!
We we welcomed at Asda by Lauren Beere who gave us a very warm welcome, thankfully so did the Cardiff Asda contingent. Totaliser tipped the scales at £440 for Asda's generous customers. Thank you Cardiff.

It's nearly there.  THE Date for leaving.  Fundraising has picked up slightly but Help for Heroes will always need more to support our wounded service men and women.  Jill Scholes at Tesco surpassed herself AGAIN yesterday when I went to pick up our Brecon Carreg water.  She then proceeded to donate energy gels and some High5 isotonic drink tablets.  These should go some way to ensuring Swifty gets his arse "in gear" :-)

Mick picked up the van from Dafydd Hardy a few days ago, and we gave it some minimal Help for Heroes treatment.  Any thoughts?  I must take this opportunity to thank Dafydd again for helping us out with the van.  This trip would be twice as hard without a support van.  If you need any real estate sold or your climbing up on the real estate ladder.  I would look no further, just because he's a top guy and he supports Help for Heroes.

Thanks to Holyhead

Thing are slotting nicely into place for the fundraiser from Cardiff to Holyhead.  We had a good day trawling what's left of Holyhead town centre yesterday.  We received support from all quarters, Hannah and Wayne Robinson's Little Stars Cafe get a huge thank you for their support.  They can always be relied upon for continued support of Help for Heroes, as can The Cambria Inn and Cambria Stores. Chocolate Box, William street stock a variety of Help for Heroes memorabilia with all proceeds going to H4H. Thanks also goes Chadwick's Newsagent and Jumping Jacks Cafe/Bar for supporting our cycling venture.

Moved on to Tesco afterwards even though I was dressed in, as Zena would call it, "your gay cycling equipment", the security guard ignored my conspicuousness and allowed me to talk to Jill Scholes.  ( I hope I got that right!)  about what we are doing.  She was very forthcoming about Tesco's support and she said we could fundraise on the final day of the journey in the store.  She also asked if they could help by donating 48 sports bottles of Brecon Carreg, fantastic support thanks Jill.  So we hope to see a lot of our fellow islanders for some final fundraising support.

All our supporters can be seen by clicking on the sponsors tab and scrolling through them.