A GROUP of gym cyclists are preparing to take on a demanding bicycle ride from London to Paris in a bid to raise £30,000 for a charity.

About 27 members of the Marlow Club, in Fieldhouse Lane, are undertaking the ride on July 1 in aid of the Motor Neurone Disease Association a condition which has touched several of the cyclists personally.

The ride was partly the idea of member Steven Smith, whose mother Genifer died of the disease eight years ago.

The members will be joined on the ride by six people who work for the charity.

The ride starts from the Tower of London on July 1 and finishes at the Eiffel Tower on July 3.

Mr Smith, whose IT company is sponsoring the cycle-shirts the group will be wearing, said: "I organised it with the owners of the gym and also do some spinning sessions myself so that's why a lot of the guys are from the gym.

"Most weekends I've been doing 50 to 60-mile rides."

The group will set off through the streets of London to the south coast where they will catch a ferry at Dover to cross the channel into France. They will then pedal on to Dieppe where they are staying for the first night.

Fran Presho, 38, a freelance spinning instructor at the club, who has been training the members for weeks, said: "I think the first day is really challenging because we don't get into France until 3.30am and the next day is a bit more hilly.

"Everyone is definitely fit enough to do it but the underside is that it will be very challenging."

Another freelance instructor, Zena Jordan, also of Marlow, will be accompanying the other cyclists on their quest to complete the challenge on the afternoon of July 3.

She said: "Because it is a quite a way we have to stop it becoming a race so some of us will be at the back to marshall the others."

The group have to raise an average of £1,000 each through sponsorship to hit their target of £30,000.

So far they have raised around £14,700, with some riders raising as much as £2,000.

The targeted amount allows for costs of the trip to be covered, including two support vehicles for breaks and a travelling doctor.

Simi Epstein, community fundraising project manager for the Motor Neurone Disease Association, said: "If you have been touched by the disease it is a good way to raise money to insure we find a cure."

If you would like to make a donation to the charity visit the website www.just givingom/genifer.