By Les Muir

SEVEN Wagga cyclists are about to hop on their bikes for the ride of their lives.

Call them determined or just plain crazy, but Peter Dixon, Michael Dunn, Rod Fisher, Michael Fitzgerald, Stephen Lee, David Milne and Garry Skeers will hit the road on Sunday to ride from Sydney to Melbourne.

And to further spice up the 1200 kilometre cycle ultra-marathon, the intrepid group is aiming to complete the journey in less than 90 hours.

Laughing off any queries about their sanity yesterday, Gary Skeers said the remarkable endurance ride was purely about "personal achievement".

"We've been training for six months and we all intend to finish," Skeers said

"We're not mad and we're not doing it for charity."

Modelled on a famous ride held every four years in France, the 1200km punishing pedal is actually a race against time, the weather and road conditions.

Peter Dixon competed in the Paris-Brest-Paris event in 2003 to pave the way for fellow Wagga riders, including Skeers, to ride the French course in 2007.

With another trip to Paris a possibility in 2011, Skeers said the Sydney to Melbourne ride was a more pressing and immediate priority.

Skeers revealed Wagga rider Andrew Blake had already blazed a path for his mates from the city by completing the ride overnight.

"Andrew trained with us and was going to ride with us, but had to change his plans because he has to be in Canberra on Monday for the graduation of his twin daughters,"' Skeers said.

"Under the rules he was permitted to ride the event one week either side of the official starting date and the last I heard he was about 150km from Melbourne.

"He should finish about 10pm (Thursday), which is inside the 90 hours."

Skeers said Blake had endured foul weather and trying conditions to complete the taxing ride.

"Blakey had only two hours sleep the first night, two hours the second night and four hours the third night," Skeers said.