Mike makes plans for next target after cycling past his charity milestone
Mike Humble pictured in Venice.
A BIKING businessman who has used pedal power to raise thousands of pounds for charity is setting his sights on his next venture to mark 20 years on a two-wheeled world tour.
In India, Mike Humble witnessed a tractor being driven the wrong way down the fast lane of a dual carriageway packed with cars, lorries, motorbikes, dogs and cattle. Yet his only serious accident was in Willerby, just two miles from his home in Kirk Ella.
The smash, which happened a year ago on 29 December, left Mike in hospital overnight and delayed his training by three months. But with a new bike and even greater determination Mike completed his next challenge and increased the total money raised to £68,000.
He said: “I was 65 this year so I set myself the target of £65,000. The accident happened on day one of a nine-month training programme. I’d gone about two miles when a car pulled into the cycle lane in front of me. I went over the handlebars and the top half of my body hit the car.
“I landed heavily on the tarmac. There were no broken bones. It was all muscle and tissue damage to my ribs and neck but it took a long time and about 10 sessions of physio to recover.”
Mike, an independent financial adviser with LEBC Group, has been working in Hull for more than 40 years. He took up cycling in 1992, completed his first major fund-raiser five years later and – motivated by the death of one of his brothers from cancer in 2006 and the loss of a client, who became a close friend, to cancer in 2009 – kept going.
After the first trip in Morocco he signed up for China, Egypt, Poland and India. A Central American challenge in 2012 took in Panama, Costa Rica and Nicaragua and this year he cycled from Venice to Rome.
Mike has completed more than 2,000 miles through dust and heat and up and down mountains in support of Mencap, Macmillan, Marie Curie, Help for Heroes and Dove House Hospice. He has also clocked up more miles building up his fitness for the charity challenges.
Support has come from family and friends and from colleagues at LEBC, where he has worked for 10 years and which this year increased its donation to £2,500. Management and other businesses at The Deep Business Centre, where LEBC is based, have also contributed.
His next test is likely to be his longest yet, with a ride from Land’s End to John O’Groats but his current intention is that 2017 – the 20th anniversary of that first Morocco trip – will be a planning year rather than a commemorative trip.
He said: “I try and leave two or three years between each big ride because while everyone who has supported me has been incredibly generous you can’t keep asking the same people for money too often.”
Another factor is the demands on his own time and finances. He uses a lot of holiday taking cycling trips and he estimates he’s spent at least £10,000 covering his own costs, but he maintains the satisfaction and memories make everything worthwhile.
He said: “My aim for Morocco in 1997 was to make sure I could raise the minimum sponsorship of £2,000 and would be fit enough to complete the course. I did it and raised £6,000.”
“In India we went through a village on the second day and some of the houses just looked like hovels then all of a sudden you would see the kids come out all immaculately dressed and ready for school. Despite the difficult living conditions, they were ready to learn.
“These trips have given me the opportunity to visit a lot of places I would never even have thought of going to.”
