A POOLE truck driver will set off on a 4,000 mile cycling challenge across America today.

Alan Young, 46, will be pedalling for Dentaid, a charity which looks to improve oral health in developing countries, from the east to the west of the US over the space of around 12 weeks.

He said: “My dentist, Bruce Gollings, has just retired and I won’t be able to make his leaving party, so I thought that I would do something nice to make up for it.

He added: “He’s involved with Dentaid and that’s what the idea came from.

“The charity helps people that can’t afford the healthcare and provides them with the things that we no longer use.

“I’m a keen cyclist anyway but I don’t do nearly as much as I’d like to.

“I’m going with two other people, and the whole thing will take between 80 and 90 days to do, depending on whether we get punctures or whatever.

“My friend did it in 2009 and I thought that I’d like to give that a go, so it’s kind of been in the making since then.

“I did Land’s End to John O’Groats last year, but I’ve never done anything of this scale.

“I’m feeling quite nervous about it now, but once I take the first step, it’ll be just like riding a bike, to excuse the phrase.

“We know the route, as it’s been given by the ACA (Adventure Cycling Association), but we don’t know where we are staying yet.

“It’s not easy, but I wouldn’t say that it was too dissimilar to my job.

“I’m not putting a figure on how much I want to raise, just as much as possible.”

For more information, go to: Justgiving.com/alanjyoung