Former winner of The Apprentice on tandem bike palace-to-palace challenge

Inventor Tom Pellereau, who moved to the city over a year ago, will be joined by friends on Friday (26) in a bid to raise £10,000 for charity KEEN London, an initiative that provides one-to-one sports and activities for children and young adults with special needs.

Tom and his fellow riders will bravely travel over 150 miles for their “palace-to-palace” cycling odyssey on the contraption, whose average speed is a worryingly low 6mph.

They will ride from London, through to Essex and up to Harwich Port, from where they will take a ferry to the Netherlands.

The trip has won a thumbs-up from Lord Alan Sugar, who tweeted: “Please sponsor mad @inventor_tom he’s cycling London to Amsterdam.”

In 2011, Tom won The Apprentice and subsequently became business partners with Lord Sugar. Since winning the show, he has successfully brought out a range of inventions.

Tom told the Herts Advertiser it was “incredible” that the tandem team has already raised over £9,000 for KEEN London.

He said that he and his friends enjoyed exercising and had for years met weekly to keep fit.

Tom went on: “But we decided we wanted to do something to give back to the community – it’s taken about two years in the planning. It’s been a huge process, but it’s an amazing thing to do.

“The bike is so heavy that I can’t lift it by myself. It’s at least 120kg.”

Tom said that while he did not invent the bike, he helped design it, with the hard work carried out by an expert in the field, who worked on it for six months.

Asked where the very long bike would be stored upon completion of the fundraiser, Tom replied: “That’s a very good question.”

The return journey from Amsterdam will be helped courtesy of a “very big van”.

Tom is such a keen cyclist that on his wedding day he left the church on a tandem with his bride.

Please see here to donate or to find out more about the challenge