The road trip from the UK to Le Mans is usually quite straightforward and thousands of British fans make the pilgrimage to the 24 Hours every year. Some come in their everyday runaround and others in wonderful classic cars. But you won't catch many of them making the trip on a bike!

This group of nine fathers decided to take on the challenge to raise money for their charity, Friends of Binsted School (FOBS), to help fund a new classroom. At the moment, 7 and 8-year-olds are being taught in the school hall because there isn't enough room anywhere else. Parents got together to find a solution, which is how this novel idea came about.

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Binsted,+Hampshire,+Royaume-Uni/Le+Mans,+France/@49.5365055,-4.8014882,575716m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m14!4m13!1m5!1m1!1s0x4874303a2312fc6b:0xfa4f31a7bb35dc19!2m2!1d-0.8934995!2d51.1637576!1m5!1m1!1s0x47e288d214f3aa31:0x69025d4c6a7de07f!2m2!1d0.199556!2d48.00611!3e1?hl=fr-FR

Team Captain Julian Cooke explains: None of us have ever cycled this far before and I’d not ridden a bike for over 20 years until last October, so this is going to be a huge challenge but it’s for a great cause and we hope to be able to raise £45,000.

In fact, the campaign has already raised over £30,000. If you would like to, you can make a donation on this page.

The nine race-goers appear pretty relaxed as they look ahead to their own endurance challenge. The main thing is to avoid injury. We’ve been training since October. I hope everyone will be ready for the off at 5 pm on 15 June. Our ferry doesn’t get in to Caen until 7am on Thursday morning so we don’t have that long to cover the distance from Caen to Le Mans. We need to plan our stops carefully and hopefully we won’t have too many punctures.

Six of the cyclists have already been to the 24 Hours of Le Mans. We have some real petrolheads amongst us, says Cooke, who first came to the race in 2005. I try to get to la Sarthe every year for the 24-hour race. I’ve even done Le Mans and back in a day with a mate in his Morgan Aero Supersports as we were both too busy at work to take any time off.

You can follow the Le Monty Cyclists and their adventures on their website or their Twitter account.

We wish them the best of luck! When they arrive in Le Mans, they’ll probably need a good night’s sleep before the start of the 24 Hours. The cyclists will be staying at the Le Houx campsite and admit they’re looking forward to a nice cold beer or a glass of champagne to celebrate once they arrive [though we are sure any drinking will be done in moderation!].

Geoffroy Barre | Translated from French by Clair Pickworth

Photo: These nine cycling fathers will set out to cover 240 km in 24 hours to make it to Le Mans for 16 June.