Fundraiser heads to five days in hell' | Rotorua Sport | Surfing, Rugby, Soccer, Football, Cricket in Rotorua

If you're looking for John White, chances are he'll be on his bike. Mountainbike, road bike or on the indoor trainer, he's putting in the mileage required to carry him across the finish line of the Simpson Desert Bike Challenge.

It will be a gruelling 590km task, and one where he already knows what to expect after taking part last year.

"I'm going back because I have unfinished business," he said.

"I did 60 per cent of the distance last year and that's not good enough. I went in unprepared, but this time around I've done a lot more training.

"I started on January 1 and I've not stopped."

At the moment he's training between 20 and 25 hours a week, taking extended leave from work to commit to the event.

As well as aiming to finish, he also wants to raise funds for the BayTrust Rescue Helicopter.

The race, which has often been described as five days in hell, is aligned with the Royal Australian Flying Doctor Service. But because Simpson is a Kiwi, he's raising funds for the Rotorua equivalent.

Last year's challenge resulted in $3500 and, as well as going further in the race, he's hoping to go beyond that mark.

"They have to raise all their own funds and it's a much-needed service," he said.

He hopes people will sponsor him for every kilometre pedalled up and over the sand dunes. His distance each day will be recorded by race officials and uploaded via satellite phone onto www.desertchallenge.org.

The Simpson Desert is open to traffic only during winter and early spring as it's considered too hot in the summer.

White said they follow a set route but that involves "horrendous" sand dunes.

"There's one called Big Red and you have to get yourself over that. It's enormous."

The race involves two stages each day and riders must maintain an average speed of 12km/h to avoid the sweeper truck, which collects riders who are falling behind. White's goal is to avoid the truck for as long as possible.

"You have quite a dilemma, you have all the elements against you - the wind's normally in your face and it gets very hot in the afternoon - 40C plus - so you don't want to get dehydrated, but you have to push yourself to avoid getting swept. The top riders can even get swept."

Last year's race was so hard that only one person completed the entire 590km and no one had a 100 per cent record in 2008.

As well as increasing the intensity of his training, White has also invested in a new bike to carry him across the finish line. His new Pugsley has 15cm-wide tyres and was designed in Alaska for snow, but can also cope with sand. He tested the bike at the Cateye Moonride in Rotorua in May, finding it was just as fast as his regular mountainbike.

He's trained on sand at Pukehina and will soon train in a heated room to start acclimatising. This year he'll head to the desert a week early to prepare for the conditions.

"It will be a really good challenge," he said. "The chances of completing it are very low - it's an honest challenge."

To sponsor White and raise funds for the BayTrust Rescue Helicopter go to www.rescue.org.nz, choose Rotorua and make a pledge per kilometre.