A sponsored one-day ride, 30th August 2009

Club member and all-round good egg, Neal Jones undertook a gruelling 150 miler in order to raise funds for the Cardigan 2010 900-year celebrations (what do you mean "what celebrations?").  Anyway, let Neal tell you all about it:

"I am part of the organising committee and we have loads of events planned for 2010 but, as you can imagine, to put these events needs funding and, to be honest, this is a challenge at the moment so I decided to do a sponsored cycle ride to help.

My route was Cardigan to Gloucester via Carmarthen, Llandeilo, LLandovery, Brecon, Abergavenny, Monmouth then up through the Forest of Dean to Gloucester and just beyond to make up 150 miles in total.  Obviously I was wearing the new club kit!

The hardest bit was the 20 miles between Brecon and Abergavenny, it just seemed to be a long uphill drag all the way.  Cycling friends in Gloucester advised me not to go through the Forest of Dean as it is all climbs, however the way round would have added 15 miles so I still went for it and it was far easier than riding in our area!!  Caroline [Neal's long suffering better half] was waiting for me in Michelldean but I went flying past even though that was one of the longest stretches!

I managed to average just under 17 mph throughout and it took me 11 hours but that included 4 stops for food, etc.  The first couple of hours were the worst as it poured down with rain and I was drenched by the time I hit Carmarthen.  Sadly it didn't dry up at all for the rest of the day but I really enjoyed it and finished flying at the end.  It was made easier with Caroline and daughter Sarah's support."

Well done, chap!