'To be able to do these challenges… it's almost like kicking the ass of mental health': Meet the man riding over 500 kilometres off-road – on a Brompton

Man stands next to a brompton outside a pub.

You’re 50 miles into the RideLondon 100 and you’re knackered. Your legs are burning, your heart is heaving…and you hear a bell cut into the air around you. Not one ding, but a series of jingly, high-pitched chirps. James Pocock is on the overtake – aboard a Brompton.

“People would dread me turning up [on the Brompton], because I would kick people's asses,” Pocock says, his Cotswolds accent thick with a smile about to erupt into laughter. “I probably wasn’t making any friends; you’ve got a bell on a Brompton and I used to ring the bell as I was passing people, especially if they were on a Cervélo or something like that. And I would smile.”