A HEREFORD man who cycles to work in Wolverhampton is taking part in the world’s toughest bike ride next week.

Mat Wilson, from Credenhill, will be jumping in the saddle for the 3,000-mile Race Across America (RAAM) bicycle race, which gets underway next Wednesday.

The former Hereford Cathedral School pupil’s gruelling challenge has the backing of Little Britain star David Walliams.

Wilson, 29, is part of a four-man team which hopes to secure a top-three spot in the endurance race.

International modern pentathlete Richard Ball, triathlete Clive Middleton and professor Greg Whyte, who masterminded Walliams’ channel swim, are also in the team.

RAAM is more than 3,000 miles long, touches 14 US states and was established in 1982.

Wilson, a lab director of sport, performing arts and leisure at the University of Wolverhampton, is looking forward to the test.

The former GB Junior Olympic team member, said: “This race has huge personal and professional meaning to me. Firstly, the idea of cycling continuously for 3,200 miles, 24 hours a day for six days, sounds like pure fun.

“Secondly, I am taking a PhD and an MSc student with me to collect vital physiological and psychological data to gain a better understanding into the mental and physical costs of such an event.” Wilson has been training hard for the challenge with long-distance rides to Talgarth and Builth Wells and twice-weekly trips to Sixth Sense Fitness in Hereford.

He regularly cycles either to and from his workplace in Wolverhampton and also does time-trials with Hereford Wheelers.

Wilson was National Junior Half-Ironman champion in 1999 and represented Great Britain in the Ironman triathlon at the 2001 World Long Course Championships.

Wilson was Welsh triathlon captain up until 2000 and has completed more than 15 marathons, including six London Marathons.

“Greg Whyte and I ran the London Marathon in costume, as usual, in 2007 and, as we crossed the finishing line, we decided we should do something different the next year. We had run the marathon for six years in a row and thought it was time to do something different,” he said.

RAAM starts at Oceanside in California and finishes at Annapolis in Maryland - it is 50% longer than the Tour de France.

The team of four will be sub-divided into two teams of two.

Each duo will then cycle in six-hour shifts, with each rider cycling for periods of 15 minutes.

The other two members of the team will rest in a motorhome until it is their six-hour cycling shift.

“I know it is going to be physically tough, but we have done a lot of preparation,” said Wilson. “But I think it’s about 10% physical and 90% mental. If we are to finish on the podium, we will be around 5½ days, which will be around Tuesday lunchtime. We want to keep the average speed to 23 mph and, if we do that, we should get on to the podium.” Wilson’s team will be supported by a back-up crew of 16 people, which includes drivers, map readers and crew chefs. There will also be three transit vans and a motorhome in the convoy.

“The biggest issues which we will be facing are dehydration and saddle soreness. Our sponsors are providing us with drinks and two cooks are preparing food for us. We have an udder cream which we will put on our chammy leathers and on our shorts to help prevent the saddle soreness.” Wilson is an exercise physiologist and has appeared as a consultant for Channel 4 and BBC shows as The Games, Too Big to Walk and The Challenge.

He supported the UK’s best International athletes when he was working for the British Olympic Association in London.

The challenge has received the backing of his friend, Walliams, who donated £1,000 to start the team’s fund-raising.

The four riders will be raising money for Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY), a charity for which Wilson works as a research fellow.

The charity raises awareness of sudden cardiac death in young people.