Press reporter and long-time cyclist Megi Rychlikova is hoping to inspire other women of all ages to get on their bikes. In the first in the first of a series of blogs leading up to the Tour de Yorkshire, she explains how and why.

This May I will ride my bicycle as part of the inaugural Tour de Yorkshire. I'm a middle-aged, plump mum with a grown-up child whose last organised sport was too many years ago. I'm certainly not a professional cyclist.

Am I mad? Not quite. The Tour includes some "sportives" for amateurs so they can test themselves against some of the same terrain as the professionals. I have been commuting by bike for decades, but never done anything on this kind of scale.

I want to show that you don't have to be superfit, or be brilliant at riding very fast circles round a velodrome or a MAMIL (middle-aged man in lycra) to enjoy the sporting side of cycling. If I can do this, any woman can.

What is a sportive? There are hundreds of them in Britain every year. They are cycling challenges which a large number of people do at the same time and can be timed but they are not races.

Some are organised by charities as fund-raising events, such as the British Heart Foundation's Heart of York sportive which goes from York to the Hambleton Hills and back again.

Some are designed as physical challenges or are linked to famous races, or both, such as the annual Etape du Tour, in which amateurs ride a full mountain stage of that year's Tour de France and is well beyond my abilities.

There are four Tour de Yorkshire sportives of varying lengths and difficulties. I've signed up for the Cycletta - or women only sportive. It will be 50 km up and down the slopes of Wharfdale on part of Stage Three.

Over the next couple of months, you may see me out on my bike or at the gym as I build up my endurance, strength and general fitness so that I can ride for more than four hours in hilly terrain, rather different from the flat roads around York that I am used to.

My doctor will be delighted to hear that I am on a diet. I am officially overweight and the less weight I have to carry on Sunday May 3, the easier it will be. I'll keep you up to date with how I progress and of course I'll tell you all about the Big Day. Wish me luck!