Gary Lake is the Editor of online mountain bike magazine Cyclist No.1. For charity, and as a feature challenge, Gary will be entering a 24 hour solo mountain bike race for the very first time.

Starting on the 24th of July at midday, and ending on the 25th of July midday,  Gary will be racing a mountain bike for 24 hours in the Bontrager Twentyfour12. This is a project to document and see how a 24 hour solo marathon novice could cope with this long distance mountain bike race.

With just seven months training and all the professional help we can get our hands on, the idea was to document the journey, hopefully inspire and educate a few other riders along the way, and with any luck watch Gary cross the finish line having ridden the full 24 hours in style.

Gary is not riding to win, he’s riding to simply stay on a bike for 24 hours. It’s easy to enter these events and hang around eating a sleeping for much of it. Gary’s challenge is to stop for nothing except essential food, drink and repairs.

Gary is riding for charity, he’s chosen to ride for CLIC Sargent so please give generously.

“I know it seems like everybody is doing something to raise money for some charity or another these days. I know it feels like you could give half your salary away and there’d still be someone asking.

With that in mind, I truly appreciate anything you have spare to give, any donation no matter how small is appreciated. The pain and effort I’m going to put myself through is nothing compared to the suffering of a child with cancer. But I hope what I’m doing is enough to inspire others to give or do a fundraising challenge of their own.”

Gary Lake - Editor, Cyclist No.1