BBC Radio 1 favourite Greg James is no stranger to an endurance test – but even he admits that his latest Comic Relief challenge is ‘absolutely absurd’.
This year, the broadcaster announced he was coming out of ‘challenge retirement’, having vowed never to do one ever again.
It began in 2016 for Sport Relief, when Greg took on the ‘Gregathlon’, completing five triathlons in five days across five UK cities, all while still hosting his Drivetime show. Greg raised a whopping £1million for charity.
But not wanting to rest on his laurels, in 2018, he faced Pedal to the Peaks, cycling 500 miles and climbing Snowdon and Scafell Pike. After extreme weather forced the challenge to a halt, he returned a month later, also climbing Ben Nevis and, again, raising over six figures.
So, what could Greg possibly be taking on this time? Well, he’s back on his bike for something he can’t even say with certainty he’ll be able to complete.
Starting bright and early today, the 40-year-old presenter will cycle 630 miles (1,000km) across the UK on a tandem bike over eight days.
Speaking exclusively to Metro ahead of the Longest Ride start date in Weymouth, Dorset, Greg reveals why now is the right time for a new challenge and what made him say yes again after almost 10 years.
‘I have been lucky enough to be part of Comic Relief for a number of years, and I’ve seen the good that they do. It’s sort of unreal,’ he begins.
‘It’s a real privilege, really, to be asked to do these things and to shoulder the burden of the challenge. Also, I’ve spent the last eight years making sure everyone else does them and convincing other people to do them. I thought it was about time that instead of being in the warm studio, I get out there and actually do one as well.’
But Greg is doing it for himself, too.
‘It’s also to prove to myself that I can still do one because it was 10 years ago, and a lot of life has happened since then. Can I still do it? I don’t know. I think so, but I don’t know for sure.’
He further explains that the thought of another challenge has been on his mind for ‘a couple of years now’, as he was keen to complete the trilogy, but the idea wasn’t there.
‘We just couldn’t come up with the right idea, and the timing wasn’t quite right for a couple of them as well. I just didn’t feel like it was different enough, and those things need to [be], especially in the world we currently live in,’ he says, following on from the likes of Spencer Matthews’ 30-marathon desert challenge and Sam Thompson’s Match Ball Mission for Soccer Aid.
‘They need to cut and be able to cut through. They need to be different,’ says Greg, pleased to have now ‘ticked all the boxes’, a key one being that he wants people to think he’s nuts.
‘It needs to sound and look tough on a map, and when you say it out loud to someone, you want the reaction to be, “What the f**k are you doing that for?”’
Having consulted experts, Greg ruled that his initial five-day timeframe was not exactly doable, so he extended the challenge to eight days, making it ‘the longest one ever’.
He will ride across England and Wales, passing through villages, towns, and cities, before pedalling across the finish line in Edinburgh on Red Nose Day 2026 (March 20).
Thankfully, he didn’t suffer any injuries while training, confessing he had been worried about having to declare ‘game over’ before he even set off.
‘I’ve been really careful,’ he said of his training. ‘I’m being really diligent, and I’ve been training since before Christmas. I’ve been doing static bike and lots of leg work, just to make sure that I can keep going. But you can never do enough training for this sort of thing, to be honest.’
Greg is going to be cycling 90 miles a day, which is pretty much incomprehensible on paper.
‘It is absolutely absurd. I looked at the breakdown of the distance and the times, and each day it’s around about what they would do in a stage of the Tour de France.’
So, what’s going to keep him going?
Fortunately, Greg won’t be flying solo, as he’ll be accompanied by fellow Radio 1 hosts and some special guests on his journey, plus Radio 1 listeners (as long as they’re decent cyclists).
‘People are very welcome, obviously.’
He’s also keeping in mind the reason why he’s doing it, having already dedicated the challenge ‘to anyone who feels like they’re carrying life’s load on their own.’
‘This is an open shout-out to any celebrities reading Metro,’ he adds, eager to raise as much cash as possible. ‘I need you to give me some of your hard-earned (and sometimes easy-earned) money.’
And does Greg reckon this is his final endurance challenge, or can we expect more from him in the future?
‘Well, we will see how it goes,’ he muses, not ruling anything out.
‘I’ll let you know on the 21st of March. Don’t be surprised if I say “Never again” at the end. I’m sure that’s what I feel in a moment, but people are allowed to change their mind.’
Radio 1’s Longest Ride with Greg James for Red Nose Day will be broadcast live across Radio 1, Morning Live, and BBC Sounds, with video diary highlights shared across Radio 1 and Comic Relief’s social channels, including YouTube, from today.
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