EVESHAM Wheelers ace Simon Wix won the Strava global challenge with 2,760 miles in one month.

He defeated a Brazilian rival by 286 after initially losing by 10 only for the distances to be recalculated.

At the end of the racing season, the Vale cyclist was kicking his heels until starting training.

Then along came the challenge, which was a social GPS-linked network for cyclists and runners to record and share their performances involving 45,468 people from around the world.

Wix said: “After the initial daily quota of 50 to 80 miles, it soon became apparent this would not be enough so I increased my target to 100 miles a day.

“That meant some days I was still cycling until well after dark, waiting for the magic three figures.

“My feet suffered the most and it soon became agony to even press down on the pedals. Seven hours a day were starting to take their toll.

“After a couple of weeks of solid progression placed me towards the top of the leaderboard, it was becoming clear I was going head-to-head with a competitor from Brazil.

“Despite pedalling 100 miles or more on 21 days and adding 1,128 in the last 10, it was still too close to call.

“With the advantage of being two hours behind UK time and four extra hours of daylight, I was duly beaten by 10 miles.

“However, Strava shortly contacted me after ironing out a bug the next day that had been crediting him with double miles, confirming myself the winner by 286 miles.”