MANY disabled people hate being called courageous but it's impossible to think of another way of describing Sale man Mike Newman.

Just imagine getting on a motorbike, putting your foot down and smashing a world land speed record.

Now imagine completing the same feat when you can't see where you're going.

In August the Sale banker put his money where his mouth is and became the fastest blind man on two wheels.

At an air base in Yorkshire, he clocked up 89.9 mph, easily beating the previous record of 78 mph.

For somebody who has been known to get the collywobbles on a fairground ride, I feel humble and more than a little embarrassed in his presence.

While the thought of doing what Mike did would scare most of us witless, it was an exhilarating experience the rider will never forget.

"When my friend came up to me and said yes, you've succeeded I felt really elated. I was tearful for a moment but really elated," he recalls.

You would think that would be enough excitement for one lifetime but not so. He tells me he has "other irons in the fire" but is keeping the details strictly under wraps. But what he would say is that all the projects have one thing in common. One thing is certain - a car or a motorbike will figure somewhere in the equation.

He describes himself as the sort of person who loves a challenge.

"It's taken me a long time to realise my ambition at work and get the job I wanted," he says.

Mike lives with his wife Kristen, children Rebecca and Samuel and two very friendly dogs. Ross, his guide dog, is like his owner, something of a one-off. I'd always thought these animals were placid but Ross loses no time in making friends with my left leg. He's boisterous to the point of being manic.

Despite his disability, this adopted local is no push over. His son gets a firm rebuff when he tries to wear his dad's motorcycle boots to go upstairs and he interrupts the interview to give the dogs a firm "Lie down!"

Do the kids ever think they can get one over on their dad because he can't see them?

"Occasionally they do but more often than not they don't," says the 40 year old.

Born in Gloucester, his original accent sneaks its way into his conversation from time to time. He had a small amount of sight until the age of 12 but this faded. Education took place at a boarding school for the blind and later at a mainstream establishment. He was rewarded for his academic efforts with two years on the dole.

Now things couldn't be more different for the small business manager at Barclays Bank in Manchester. Some clients are taken aback when they meet him for the first time but the specially adapted computer he uses to do his job often acts as a conversational ice breaker. When he types a word on his computer keyboard it repeats it back to him.

Being married to a nurse means he spends a lot of his leisure time with his kids, doing the sort of things any other family do. They enjoy cinema visits and cycling. The family owns a tandem. Would he describe himself as an active person rather than a couch potato. Mike who also has a weakness for Chinese and Italian food, smiles broadly.

"I was active in my late teens and twenties I was. When I reached my thirties I gave up. I think that's probably why I jumped on my motorbike," he laughs, jokingly putting down his recent two wheeled exploits to some sort of mid life crisis.

He even manages to sneak a couple of pints at his local, the Plough in Ashton on Mersey. It was here that the plan to be the world's best was hatched.