Bexhill rider tackles 1,800-mile Indian enduro

For part of next year's Enduro India event, Chris Mayo and fellow motorcyclists will be riding bikes designed in the Fifties on roads not used since the days of the Raj.

Chris, a podiatrist attached to Hastings and Rother Primary Care Trust, can't wait for the January 20 start date.

In a typical year he enjoys around 6,000 miles of European cruising on his beloved 900cc Triumphs.

He says: "My longest to date was 2,300 miles around the South of France last year.

"But this will be completely different. No motorways for a start...

"I am doing this for my 50th. I am 50 next year and I was looking for something interesting g to do.

"I saw a reference to Enduro India in The Times more than a year ago. Since then it's been in my motorcycle magazines.

"I put my deposit down some time ago."

He says: "It's a huge undertaking by 100 riders from all over the world, plus 70 support staff and follows a route that has been developed over the last seven years to include very challenging terrain and riding conditions.

"For this privilege I have to raise 4,500 in order to help very worthwhile causes in one of the poorest countries in the world, as well as helping families of children suffering from cancer here in the UK.

"As a podiatrist working in a rich country such as ours, I also want to see at first hand the kind of foot problems experienced in a country with very limited health care, and where many people don't wear shoes at all.

"Besides the serious complications resulting from untreated diabetes, ulceration and infected wounds, there exists a very real stigma attached to leprosy victims.

"I am sure that experiencing these things first-hand will enhance my own professional approach to the treatment I give here at home."

The four charities will which benefit from the adventures of riders taking part in Enduro India 2008 will be the Rainbow Trust, which helps children with life-threatening illnesses and their families; the World Wildlife Fund, the Wildlife Conservation Society-India and Action for Social Health in Rural Areas (Ashram), which aids the poorest people in the Palani Hill range.

Among old British vehicles still licence-built in India is the Royal Enfield Bullet, a 350cc single which would have been familiar to Chris' father's generation.

The sort of riding that Chris faces will be familiar to viewers of television's Long Way Down series.

Chris says: "There are about 108 of us in my group - plus 70 support staff, mechanics and medics.

"All our luggage will be taken in vans from one place to another."

But it won't be a "picnic."

"We start in Goa and take in tea plantations. We will see the highest waterfall in India and come back via the plains.

"The accommodation will range from the very rough and primitive to a night in a hotel.

"We will stay at a tiger reserve.

"The ride has been developed over seven years by a guy who gave up his job in the City of London for the purpose.

"He found some old Ordnance Survey maps and found routes which had become very overgrown. He had opened then up.

"So we will be going on routes that no one else goes on.

"It's an enduro event because it goes off-road - so it will be quite gruelling.

"If you fall off they will pick you up...."

Chris has been riding motorcycles since 1975. His 1992 and 1998 Triumphs are his pride and joy. But he confesses a liking for older bikes so riding the back-to-basics Bullet will not be a hardship.

Friends, colleagues and patients have helped him towards the 4,500 deposit. But he says: "It's for my 50th so I am more than prepared to pay whatever gap there is because it is something I want to do.

"We will pass lots of village schools. We have been told to take lots of coloured pens and crayons for the kids. They just can't get enough of them out there."