After cycling 10 km across Galway Bay on a bicycle mounted on two pontoons on Saturday, Mr Pat McGlynn described it "like cycling uphill in the Tour de France with the brakes on".
Mr McGlynn suffers from arthritis and last year had a hip-replacement, but he was determined not to give in, even when he encountered choppy waves for an agonising 20- minutes stretch. His sea-cycling feat raised more than €5,000 for the Irish Arthritis Foundation.
He was hugged by his wife Deirbhile and their children Dylan (7) and Rachel (5) after he arrived on shore at the promenade in Salthill, having cycled over the waves from Kinvara on the other side of Galway Bay in 2 hours and 20 minutes. Stormy seas prevented it from going ahead a week earlier.
Even as he waited at Kinvara to start his cycle, Mr McGlynn was again warned to reconsider his attempt. However, meeting a man who had suffered from severe arthritis and who had come to cheer him on made him more determined.
"John Fahy came up to me to wish me well. He told me that he had his two hips and both of his knees replaced and he also suffered from rheumatoid arthritis on his arms and shoulders. I was impressed by the courage of this man and it gave me an extra spurt to cycle across the sea," he said.
Mr McGlynn was escorted by three boats and a yacht. "The waves started to hit me from the side and as they tossed the pontoons around it was bit like being on a seesaw in the sea as the bicycle bumped up and down."
Because of this choppy stretch of sea, he had to take a slightly longer trip. "You could say I took the more scenic route which made the trip longer."
He was inspired after he saw an article in a cycling magazine in Italy which gave details of how pontoons were used for cycling across rivers. As the two which he had imported from Italy were designed for river use, he had to get them modified for a trip on the sea by a Galway precision engineering firm, Feeney and Keating.