We are riding 240 miles off-road across Scotland from Ardnamurchan to Montrose to support the work of the Yorkshire Air Ambulance Charity.

For mountain bikers, the Scottish Coast to Coast offers the ultimate off-road challenge in the UK. A journey of 240 miles involving 7000m of ascent and descent, from the Atlantic to the North Sea. The journey has been labelled the ultimate cycling challenge by The Observer and has been voted by Outside magazine as one of its '10 trips of a lifetime’, it is undeniably an epic ride.

Attempting this revered challenge seemed like a great idea when it was originally discussed in the comfort of a pub back in April 2011. As with most ideas conceived in a pub, the reality is a little bit different from what you remember. As soon as the Ordnance Survey map was opened, the scale of the task unfolded, as we realised that in order to achieve our goal, we would have to ride for nine consecutive days and cross the 939m summit of Mount Keen, Scotland's most easterly Munro.

Having agreed to the challenge there was no backing out; you can’t let your mates down! Staying true to our word, we will line up at Ardnamurchan Point on the first day of September, dip our wheels in the Atlantic, and begin our long journey to Montrose and the North Sea without outside assistance.

For this challenge we want to collect more than the usual battle scars, trail tales and bills for broken bike parts. We want to raise money for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance, a service which we hope none of us will ever have to use but one which provides a reassuring and vital presence in an emergency. However, judging by the number of rescues involving mountain bikers on the BBC television programme Helicopter Heroes; we think that they deserve a little extra support from the mountain biking community.

We have set a fundraising target of £720 which represents £1 per mile for each team member; please help us reach our target and support the vital work of the Yorkshire Air Ambulance.

Many thanks for taking the time to visit our JustGiving page.

Mark, Neil and Richard

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - we raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

So please dig deep and donate now.