Why record-breaker Leigh is devoted to a life on the road

In the latest edition of Marketing Derby’s Innovate magazine, we catch up with double world record-breaking endurance cyclist Leigh Timmis.

Fresh from his latest record-breaking challenge in the US (covering the greatest distance ever ridden on a bike in seven days), Leigh talks to Innovate about his achievements, his motivation and his life on the road breaking records.

During his latest challenge, Leigh battled through a Florida hurricane. This monumental effort followed his demolition of the previous world record for the fastest cycle crossing of Europe.

But the man who also spent seven years pedalling solo 44,000 miles around the world tells Innovate that he is already contemplating his next adventure.

He said: “I think I need the challenge and there will be two or three more going forward before I can’t physically do it anymore.

“At the end of the last world record, the target was to stand at the finish line and look back and have no regrets – to know that you gave it everything.

“When I stand on the finish line of life, I want to look back and know I gave it everything.”

Leigh explains how he first got into cycling from a very early age, scooting around the garden of his Derby home on a ‘bunny bike’.

Leigh told Innovate: “I’d loved bikes since I was a kid. We had a ‘show and tell’ day at school and somebody brought in a mountain bike.

“It captured my imagination and so I got a paper round and saved up to buy my first bike. It was about £500 but I kept doing the paper round so I could upgrade the components.”

It was after doing some travelling that Leigh first got the idea to cycle around the world – an epic challenge that would take him seven years to complete.

Then he set about grabbing some world records – but with two under his belt, Leigh is not quite finished yet.

He said: “I need it. I need to get my teeth stuck into something … to be pushing myself all the time.

“I learned that cycling is a strength I have and that I can use it to discover things about myself but also to achieve things for the community, our team, my group of friends.

“That’s something I can do at a world class level now and I can’t let that go.”

To read the full interview with Leigh, click here .