Mike Humphreys is no stranger to epic challenges. The personal trainer has skied down a mountain only to run back up it, and completed 30 marathons in 30 days in 30 countries.
But his latest test of endurance proved to be his toughest yet. He rode a limited-edition Stranger Things Raleigh Chopper from Hull in his home county of Yorkshire to Val Thorens, Europe’s highest ski resort. The journey took 14 days and saw Humphreys cover more than 1,000 miles.
Humphreys undertakes challenges such as this to raise money for the MND Association, a UK charity dedicated to supporting individuals with motor neurone disease, their families and carers. So far, he has raised more than £30,000 but wants to raise a total of £50,000.
Seven years ago, Humphreys' friend, Carl, passed away from motor neuron disease. And, in 2023, another friend, Craig, was diagnosed with the incurable disease. “From that day on, I've been doing challenges to raise awareness and try and get some donations along the way,” he tells BikeRadar.
A bad start
Humphreys' latest challenge was inspired by Paddy McGuinness, who rode 300 miles from Wales to Scotland on a Chopper last year, raising £7.5 million for Children in Need.
Riding more than three times that distance, Humphreys' journey from the North of England to the 2,300m-high ski resort in France got off to a bad start.
“This one was meant to be a smaller challenge so I could be rested from the 30 marathons. And then it turned out to be a bigger challenge than expected,” Humphreys says, explaining that the van intended to offer him support broke down two days before he began his ride.
“That's how it turned out to be a solo trip. I strapped a tent to the back of the Chopper, and just went off.”
“I did 107 miles and then I camped by the river in Spalding. It was, like, -4˚C. It was freezing and my air mattress had actually got caught in the back wheel,” he says. This punctured the mattress and he spent the night sleeping on the ground, waking up wet. After that, Humphreys decided to stay in hotels.
Having not planned a route before he set off, Humphreys was reliant on Google Maps and Komoot – which he downloaded just before he set off – for navigation. He says Google Maps would often take him on major roads and Komoot sent him on mountain bike trails, which was tough going for the Chopper.
“Some days I'd be in the middle of a field at one in the morning in really deep mud and I was just like, ‘What am I doing here?’” he says.
Without a support vehicle, Humphreys was left to fix punctures himself, which meant he lost out on the time he had planned to rest and eat, which slowed his progress. But probably not as much as another mechanical issue he had.
“I lost my gears on the second day,” he says. “The mechanic in Dover said I'd got a stone locked in the gearbox. And then that caused me not to be able to change gears, so I was effectively riding with one gear for the majority of the trip.”
Humphreys often cycled from early in the morning until after midnight, and aimed to get five or six hours' sleep per night. He says it was harder to get hotels in France than England. Sometimes, the closest hotel open after midnight would be 25 or 40 miles away. This meant that on one day he finished riding at 2.45am.
Can anyone speak French?
On another day, he booked a hotel in Orgelet in the east of France, which was supposed to be open until after midnight.
“I got there at 11:45pm and there was no one in the hotel,” Humphreys says. “I had to put a message on Instagram, ‘Can anyone speak French?’ Because they kept putting the phone down on me.”
He says a member of the public saw his message on Instagram and spoke to the hotel, which eventually got someone to let him in.
Social media became an avenue for support, with people sending Humphreys messages of encouragement. “That was really helping me get through it,” he says.
This was especially true on the final climb to Val Thorens. After 13 days of riding, Humphreys was cycling at night.
“The climb up was so intense,” he says. “It was a really nice night, with the stars and everything. But I was in so much pain. Some points, I was nearly crying. At some points, I’d just be on my own and I'd be welling up a bit.”
Humphreys says he was overwhelmed by “the whole thing”, from the duration of the trip to the isolation, and thoughts of his cause, raising money for the MND Association. But with 10 miles to go, a person who’d read about Humphreys' ride on Facebook came out to say hi and see if he was okay, which gave him the encouragement he desperately needed.
Arriving in Val Thorens
As he neared the end of his ride, Humphreys says: “There was groups of people who were walking around the bar strip, just thought I was a drunk man on a bike.
“And then someone was shouting. ‘He's come from Hull’. And then I received a £100 donation from a stranger who had just seen me going up the hill.”
Humphreys had worked at the ski resort the year before and the people he’d worked for arranged a welcome party at the end of his ride.
“When I went around the corner and saw the crowd, it was just a massive buzz,” he says.
Humphreys says riding the Chopper was initially “quite cool”, with lots of people approaching him to say how they'd had one as a kid. But after only 20 miles of riding, it became hard work. “I started to feel like I had sciatica,” he recalls.
One of Humphreys’ contacts in Val Thorens may buy the Chopper to mount above their bar, helping him towards his fundraising goal.
The purchase would also save Humphreys from using the bike on one of his next challenges, which may include seven Ironman triathlons in as many days and countries.
Remarking on Humphreys' latest challenge, Jo Coker, director of income generation at the MND Association, says: “To have had two close friends affected by motor neurone disease is heartbreaking, but to want to use his experience to power him on this extraordinary journey through Europe is so inspiring.”
