I did this 24-hour solo mountain biking lark last year (read about it here or (same tale with slightly different words) here). In a nutshell, it was biblically wet, my "two hour" nap became more like five and I only managed 12 (equating to about 120 miles) of my 15-lap goal (although only four people did better, so I wasn't too gutted really).

Lots of people said, "Ooh, you won't be able to do it just once, it's addictive you know." At the time I thought, yeah, right, just like stabbing yourself with pins is addictive. But then the entry forms came out and, well, it seemed a shame not to benefit from the experience. Having made a load of mistakes in 2007, I might as well learn from them, right? And anyway, the weather will be beautiful, with dry, fast trails and the whole thing will be lovely beyond imagining.

If I keep saying this enough, I'll start to convince myself.

So, there you go. Riding in circles around the Mendip Hills, on my own, for 24 hours. Well, not entirely on my own, there'll be several hundred other people there, but it's amazing how few people there seem to be about at 1am when it's raining. But of course, it won't rain. No.

Crikey, anyone would think I was planning to ask for donations per word. Which I'm not. Not per word, that is - donations, yes please. Every little helps and all that. I've unticked the "amount" column down there, so no-one'll see how much anyone else has punted up and you needn't feel bad about putting 50p in or something. I managed £430 last year, it'd be lovely to get to somewhere similar again...

And here's the bit about Gift Aid that lands here by default and that I can't see any compelling need to change:

"Donating through this site is simple, fast and totally secure. It is also the most efficient way to sponsor me: CLIC Sargent will receive your money faster and, if you are a UK taxpayer, an extra 28% in tax will be added to your gift at no cost to you."

Many thanks for your support!