Million Pound Bike Ride - latest

The first trial of their John O'Groats to Land's End epic turned into a battle of willpower as the bitter winter that has gripped Britain for months bit once again.

Support the challenge and track their LIVE progress at sportrelief.com

The celebrities took it in turns to face the treacherous night cycle. First Miranda Hart and David Walliams, and then Fearne Cotton braved the conditions before Davina McCall and Patrick Kielty really felt the full force of the icy blast as they passed through the ski resort of Glen Coe.

At one point, an experienced support rider had to be taken back on to the bus after his five-hour stint left him unable to communicate with the team because his tongue was completely numb.

Fearne, who scaled Africa's highest peak Mount Kilimanjaro last year, said: "That was every bit as tough as the Kili climb. It's freezing, it's steep and it's painful."

Davina added: "I'm so glad I managed to finish my leg last night. This is so many more times harder than I expected. The conditions were nothing short of brutal."

Patrick said: "A seven-mile climb to a ski resort at minus -15C is not what I expected when David Walliams asked if I'd like a bike ride around Britain for Sport Relief. It was horrible and I'm not looking forward to getting back on that bike when my turn speeds round again."

"To start out you're on the flat then we hit two tremendous hills - on Tuesday morning I was feeling pretty terrible," said a weary Miranda.

The team have already raised £250,000 towards their £1m target for Sport Relief.

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Former Olympian Professor Greg Whyte, who trained the team, described the first night's conditions as life-threatening: "Riding in that kind of temperature at night poses serious risks - it's potentially deadly.

"No one would have batted an eyelid if they'd have said, let's call this off. But they didn't and I'm amazed at how absolutely no one wants to let the team down.

"The end of the night ride saw us complete 300 miles, which means we've got 700 left and another two nights to get through. Last night took an awful lot out of them so they are going to have to dig incredibly deep."

The riders are aiming to make it to the UK's southernmost tip on Thursday 4 March and raise £1m in the process.

What the team are up against:

• Day 1 - It's straight in at the deep end for the first intrepid cyclist from the team - or should that be the steep end? They will face a day of climbing, climbing and more climbing. They'll have scaled virtually the height of Everest - over 8,800 metres - by the end of the day!

• Day 2 - Who will be the lucky cyclist who has to contend with the highest altitude, the longest continual climb and the longest descent of the challenge? They'll go from 500 to 1,500ft up the Kirkstone pass, then downhill for another 1,500 – all in complete darkness!

• Day 3 - Everyone will be aching and rueing the day they ever met Walliams, but it's definitely not time to start taking it easy just yet. Especially as – what's that up ahead? Not another hill! Our cycling superstars will have to face not one, but two mammoth peaks – each over 1,000ft!

• Day 4 - The end is in sight… and the team will have covered an incredible amount of terrain overall! They'll have pedalled uphill roughly the same distance as climbing Mt Kilimanjaro four times over - almost 74,000ft in just four days.

The team want to raise £1m to help people living unimaginably tough lives in the UK and internationally. It's going to be a long, tough ride and they really need your help to reach the £1m target. Support the challenge

For the full terms and conditions about the £1 text donation scheme, click here

Find out where David and the team are and all the latest news and gossip direct from their bike pedals at sportrelief.com

Day one - The team begin their challenge