Robinson on top of world after Hero Himalaya

The annual mountain bike race is held in the state of Himachal Pradesh, India, and covers nearly 650km over a period of eight gruelling days.

Competitors reach altitudes of 3,200m with temperatures ranging from freezing to 30 degrees but that didn’t put off Robinson, who teamed-up with two-time downhill national champion

Harry Molloy, as part of team Insync Racing, to take part in the 14th running of the event.

Molloy was forced to fly home after sustaining a serious injury in the race but Robinson, pictured above, battled on to complete it.

He said: “The event was tough as hell. You are in a different country dealing with different foods, altitude and pushing your body to the limit.

“I fell off my bike just before the race so a few days riding I was in a fair bit of pain.”

Robinson continued: “At first I was pushing hard chasing the podium but after day one, I realised that was out of my reach and my goal was then to just finish.

“When I was riding with pain I had so many negative thoughts which made it tough.

“Many times I just wanted to stop and get off my bike but I kept going.

“When I wasn’t in pain then I had positive thoughts and pushed hard to improve my time, which was really fun. A few times I was singing to myself and thinking of my future.

“The race was a real mental toughness test.

“As much as I wanted to stop, quitting was never an option for me.”