He frequently rode from Land's End to John o' Groats, holding the world record time on six occasions between 1886 and 1895.
[2] The journalist and official Frederick Thomas Bidlake said: Mills' penny-farthing record stood until July 2019, when it was beaten by Richard Thoday in 4 days 11hrs and 52 mins.
[4] Mills was helped by other members of the Anfield Bicycle Club, who organised accommodation and food, and enrolled other cyclists to guide him.
He was invited by the organisers, the newspaper Véloce Sport because of his reputation in an age when long-distance racing was the fashion.
A race from Bordeaux in the south-west to the capital in Paris would be the longest annual event in France.
As well as the British – Mills, Monty Holbein, Selwyn Francis Edge and Joah Edward Lionel Bates[8][9] – there were a Pole and a Swiss.
[10] The British riders had woollen jerseys and leggings and their bicycles had footrests on the forks to profit from descents.
[11] Mills fell on bad roads after 10 km when he touched with the French favourite, Jiel-Laval, but neither was hurt.
The historian Victor M. Head write: "At 10.30 Angoulème was reached and the Englishmen stopped to gulp down bowls of hot soup.
When they restarted, Mills began to make all the running, drawing steadily away from his companions until, arriving at Ruffeo, he was half an hour in the lead.
He rested for five minutes, ate raw meat "and a specially prepared stimulant",[2] and set off an hour ahead of the other British riders.
[16][17] Only then would the NCU allow Mills and other British amateurs to take part, although it accepted that professionals such as Charles Terront could be employed as pacers.
[19] With Mills dead and Moorehouse ill, the club cancelled presentations to mark their achievements and their long association.
In 1907 he won the TT Race for international heavy touring cars in a 30 hp Beeston Humber.
Mills on his Raleigh motorcycle completed his run from Land's End to John o'Groats on Saturday forenoon and established a new record.