Help The Heroes Cycle Ride In London More than 1,500 cyclists will take to the streets of central London for today's Hero Ride, in aid of armed forces charity Help for Heroes. They will include 300 fundraisers arriving in the capital from Paris, having cycled from France over five days. The Duchess of Cornwall paid a visit to the cyclists - including many British, US and Canadian servicemen and women and war veterans - during a brief stay in Paris on Tuesday. Those taking part are cycling more than 350 miles through the battlefields of the First and Second World Wars. Other self-organised rides are taking place from various locations and meeting in Blackheath, south-east London, today before culminating at Horse Guards Parade. The events have taken on added poignancy following the death of Drummer Lee Rigby, the soldier hacked to death outside Woolwich Barracks in south east London on May 22. Help for Heroes co-founder Bryn Parry said: "We are asking anyone who can, to join us in London (today), line the route of Hero Ride, donate and demonstrate your dignified respect and long-term commitment to those who serve and risk all on our behalf." He added: "To our great British public, we thank you sincerely for your wonderful, continued support. To ride alongside a young man missing three limbs as he powers his handbike up yet another hill, in the pouring rain, determined to complete a 90-mile day is inspiration enough to understand why our support is so needed, so important and must endure. Mr Parry said he was proud of what his charity had achieved, such as opening recovery centres for wounded service personnel at Tidworth in Wiltshire, Catterick in North Yorkshire, Plymouth in Devon and Colchester in Essex. He added: "We have achieved a great deal in the last five years and the framework is now in place that will allow us to do what we set out to do, to help our heroes. We need more funds, we need enduring partnerships and we need the right structures to make this as good as it needs to be.