Pedal to Poland, day 1

Day 1 in the Pedal to Poland house: 6.15am alarm goes off and I roll out of bed to get ready for the long day ahead.

We're all meeting at the Spire at 7am and it’s a grey Dublin morning. Lads all arrive with bananas and papers in hand and off we set down the quays towards the 8.15am Stena Ferry.

After a few bumps and scrapes the bikes are loaded and we're off to Holyhead. It's the calm before the storm...

Wales arrives on the horizon and we're starting to get wheely excited!

11.45am: After customs check our Vaseline for steroids we're off again and the hills await us on our 85km trek. Matthew leads us up the first climb and the bungy chord pulls us all up to the top...only another 10 hills to go.

Half way through the first day’s cycle and everyone's still in good spirits as the first pint of the trip awaits in the seaside town of Colwyn Bay.

As we approach our first night’s stop the sea breeze cools our thirsty heads and we're off to jump in the sea for our Irish Sea ice bath.

Alright folks we're scooting off to have a well deserved pint and we'll talk again tomorrow as we tackle more of North Wales and head towards middle England...sounds a bit like Lord of the Rings!