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Radio 1 DJ Greg James comes out of 'challenge retirement' for Comic Relief

Ian MurphyBBC Newsbeat
News imagePA Media Radio 1 DJ Greg James stood behind a black tandem bike with his left hand on the handlebars and his right arm in the arm with his fish clenched. He is wearing blue trousers and a red jacket and has a red nose on his nose, with a white cap. The photo is taken in a studio setting so there are two big bright photography lights behind him and a canvas style picture of Edinburgh Castle.PA Media
Greg James is going to cycle 630 miles across the UK over eight days

Radio 1 DJ Greg James is set to take on his most "ludicrous challenge" yet for Comic Relief - despite saying he would never do one again.

The breakfast show presenter is going to cycle 630 miles (1,000km) across the UK on a tandem bike over eight days in March.

He will be riding mostly solo during each eight-hour daily leg, but says he will be joined by other Radio 1 presenters and some special guests along the way.

It'll be Greg's third Red Nose Day challenge after completing five triathlons in five days in 2016 before cycling between Scafell Pike, Snowdon, and Ben Nevis - climbing each of them - two years later.

Greg vowed the 2018 Pedal To The Peaks endurance test would be his last.

But he's changed his mind and will set off for his cycling challenge from Weymouth, Dorset, during his breakfast show on 13 March.

He'll then ride through England and Wales - passing through villages, towns and cities - before ending at the finish line in Edinburgh on Red Nose Day on 20 March.

"I do think it will be a ludicrous challenge, and one that I don't know whether or not I can do," he says.

"But I'm going to try it.

"A little bit of pain is worth the overall goal of raising loads of money for Comic Relief."

News imagePA Media A close-up photo of Radio 1 DJ Greg James, he is wearing a brown and white stripped knitted jacket and has long curly brunette hair. He is staring directly at the camera and has a red nose on his nose that has a picture of a tandem bike on it and says Greg James.PA Media
The bike ride will be Greg's third challenge raising money for Red Nose Day

Greg announced Radio 1's Longest Ride on his breakfast show on Thursday, and listeners will find out on Friday how they can join him on day one.

The DJ says he expects to be joined on the tandem by a "mixture of well-known people and [Radio 1] listeners".

"I need them to be good cyclists," he said.

"The reality of it might be that they wobble and we both fall off."

Greg says he's coming out of "challenge retirement", but it's going to be "brutally hard and relentlessly demanding".

"The world feels really overwhelming at the moment. There's a lot of things to worry about and everything is just feeling a lot," he says.

"I'm dedicating this challenge to anyone who feels like they're carrying life's load on their own."

Radio 1's Longest Ride with Greg James for Red Nose Day will be broadcast live across Radio 1, Morning Live and BBC Sounds during his journey.

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