14-year-old joins #Ride5k dad on epic battlefield bike tour
Eager 14-year-old joins his dad on ambitious battlefield tour
‘Dylan and I have done the NC500 twice’ R5K MEMBER MICK PUMFREY
Bike-mad former serviceman Mick Pumfrey is gearing up for nine days of twoup father-son bonding, with a European battlefield tour aboard his trusty 15-plate Triumph Tiger Explorer. Although it’s not just about helping in his bid to top 5000 miles in 2020.
“It’s all about education. It’s education on the past and it’s character building,” the 41-year-old told MCN. Tagging along for the ride is 14-year-old Dylan, who has been riding with his dad, an avid member of the #ride5000miles Facebook group, for most of his life. Mick explains: “I’ve been riding since I was 16 and I’ve never been without a bike. “Since the boys’ feet could touch the pegs, they’ve been out with me, doing camping trips on the bike and other things like that. Dylan and I have done the North Coast 500 twice. I take the boys on the bike two to three times a year.” Starting on Monday, March 30, the duo will leave Inverness in Scotland and head to Malton, Yorkshire, ahead of a day at the Eden Camp Modern History Theme Museum.
From there, the pair will snake through England, into France and then onto Belgium, before catching the ferry back home from Holland. Mick says the trip is likely to stretch for around 1500 miles.
“It was actually Dylan that kept talking about WW1 and WW2,” the IAM Observer continued. “I did a battlefield tour when I was in my early 20s and thought I wouldn’t mind doing another. I mentioned it to him and his eyes lit up!” Dylan suffers with ADHD and a disorder called Van der Woude syndrome, which causes issues with concentration, but that doesn’t stop him being an ace pillion. Mick said: “On the back of the bike, he’s a legend. We’ve got comms, so he’s always talking. It’s a bit of father-sontime, which I didn’t get much of when I was serving.”