Beaches are normally the place for buckets and spades, Frisbees and footballs, but yesterday beautiful Pembrey Beach in west Wales was overtaken by 600 cyclists on a wide assortment of bikes, from massive fat bikes to cyclocross bikes, and a few tandems, in the second running of the howies Battle on the Beach.

The very unique race started on the beach, with the first of three laps featuring a long 10km section on the sand. The battery on my GoPro run out just as the course turned off the beach and headed into the sand dunes and woods that made up the majority of the course. Subsequent laps used a shorter, but no less punishing, section on the beach, making this one of the most unique cycle races I've ever done.

And also one of the most fun, exhilarating, exhausting, rewarding and entertaining events I've ever done.