A student is appealing for help after the bike she was planning to use for a 1,800-mile charity cycle ride was stolen.

Clare Fox, 22, is due to leave for Vancouver next month to complete a once-in-a-lifetime trip down the west coast of America to raise money for the Lance Armstrong Foundation.

However, her £1,200 touring bike, which she needs for the trip, was stolen from Rainbow Woods in Combe Down last month.

Clare, a former Monkton Combe School pupil who is now a third-year equine sciences student at the University of the West of England, said it had been taken after she had temporarily left it while on a training ride.

She said: "I bumped into a friend and we wandered into the woods and I hadn't planned to leave my bike, so I didn't have my chain.

"I thought it would probably be all right if I left it out of sight, so I had it hidden behind some trees and in some scrub. I am kicking myself now."

Clare is now working in the Cross Keys pub to earn money to put towards a new bike and her parents have agreed to help her out if she needs more funds.

However, the experience has taken the edge off her excitement about the adventure.

She said: "I am still excited, but I am having to do my best to not be superstitious that something is trying to make it impossible for me to go.

"I am now working hard to make sure it still happens and hopefully I am getting there. I am trying to just see this as an extra challenge."

Clare came up with the idea for her American challenge when she was cycling through France with a group of friends a few years ago.

She wanted to support the Lance Armstrong Foundation – an American cancer charity set up by the record-breaking cyclist – because she said he had inspired not only people battling cancer but also sportsmen and women across the world.

She added: "Lance is such an inspiration and because it was a cycling trip I thought it would be really fitting to support his charity."

During her journey, she will be aiming to cycle 155 miles each day and is estimating that the trip will take three months to complete.

She added: "Although that is taking it quite easy, I want to be able to meet people and take in the sights."

The Ridgeback Panorama touring bike, which has a unique frame serial number M9111098, was taken from the Rainbow Woods on Friday, April 16.

Anyone with information should contact Bath police on 0845 4567000.