A DUNFERMLINE racer has won an event at Brands Hatch.

But Ross Duncan was competing on two wheels rather than four as he finished fastest solo rider at the Revolve24 event.

Ross made his way to the iconic racing circuit outside London for the 24-hour challenge on September 14 to compete against riders from Australia, Belgium, France and Hong Kong.

By the end of the day, he had covered 450 miles completing 185 laps of the circuit – and climbed 11,785 metres (Mount Everest is 8,848 metres).

"It was the best I felt on the bike," he told Press Sport.

"It was nice for my folks to see me win my first bike race.

"I thought to myself, 'What I have got myself in for here?' hen I saw the track.

"The first few laps I tried to stay safe and get away from the main field didn't have to worry about get stuck behind slower riders.

"After my second stop,I had issues with stuck air in my abdomen which made cycling a challenge. I had it for a few hours.

"I stuck to a plan of stopping every two hours for new bottles and food; every fourth hour I would add in a toilet break.

"I changed my food strategy for this. I normally have had meals during these events, not this year.

"Two mugs of homemade soup during the night and that was it, I used rice cakes and Haribos for the first 12 hours then sports bars and gels for the last 12 hours.

"I had a bad spell about 3am and got over it but lost first place. I came in for a pit stop to change tyre pressures as they had cooled off and I was feeling more drag."

He had to deal with temperatures ranging from six degree to 24 degrees, having to change clothing to adapt to the conditions.

"All the way through the race it was very tight between myself and second place.

"After 18 hours, it was starting to get hard, so I changed tactics," he recalled.

He says he "got on with the job in hand" and finished with an overall time of 23:58:45, five laps ahead of second place and 10 ahead of third.

His reward is qualification for the world's toughest road cycling race: Race Across America (RAAM).

"It's an insane challenge," Ross laughed.

"You cycle from the West coast to the East coast. It's a 3,000-mile race and you have less than 12 days to complete it.

"Revolve24 is the hardest of all the RAAM-approved qualifying events in the world.

"You have to take part within two years. If you don't, you have to qualify again.

"If I can get the cash, I'd love to do it in July next year. If I don't find the funding – the minimum is £20,000 – I'll need to wait until 2021."

The IT technician and Dunfermline Cycling Club member has cycled 21,630 miles this year alone, and his next event is London-Edinburgh-London in 2021.

He will have under 100 hours to complete the challenge.

"I love the freedom and the challenge cycling provides," he added.

"It keeps you mentally calm and relaxed and gives you something to focus on.

"Endurance cycling pushes you to your limits."