LAST weekend, Alex Challis was planning to do what many teenagers do when Saturday comes round, take it easy.

It would have made a change for the 16-year-old from Barnstaple.

After all, over the previous four weekends he had spent more than 24 hours on his bike, riding 400 miles.

Alex, a student at Petroc, said: "My legs hurt now, but I'm only taking a break for a week or so, then I will be back cycling every single day.

"(Riding 100 miles) is not easy, but not as hard as running a mile."

His cycling marathon started on September 5 when he rode the 175km (109 miles) South West stage of the Tour of Britain.

Five days before the professionals rode from Minehead to Teignmouth, Alex completed the route in the The Prostate Cancer Charity Tour Ride, in which amateurs can tackle three of the Tour stages.

On September 12, he was back in North Devon for the Black Rat Cycle Challenge, riding 100 miles across Exmoor in 8hrs 5mins 50secs.

A week later, Alex clocked up another 100 miles in the Bristol Black Rat Challenge, which included a climb through Cheddar Gorge.

Then, on September 26, it was back to the Tour of Britain route and the 161km (100 miles) Stoke-on-Trent ride.

"It was fun, but towards the end it got a bit repetitive," said Alex. "I wanted to do a fifth ride but my Dad said it was probably a bad idea."

Alex trains with Taw Velo. He honed his skills on a retro 1970s bike borrowed from the club before splashing out on a Giant Defy 2 seven months ago.

"To become a pro would be a dream but very tough to achieve," said Alex.

"I did a British Cycling training camp. The other riders were the same age but on a different level.

"They were going round for seven hours at race pace. I was all right until the sixth hour, then I collapsed."