The Comeback Cycle

Two years ago, I was riding for the RAF Cross Country Mountain Bike Team and regularly taking part in a variety of sports. That all changed when I suffered a serious accident whilst leading a group ride for work. I fell from my bike and sustained a Grade 5 ACJ injury, before later developing adhesive capsulitis (frozen shoulder), leading to an incredibly long, painful, and ongoing recovery journey.

Since the injury, I have been unable to ride a conventional bike or participate in many of the sports I once loved. Losing that part of my life left me feeling lost, as though I had also lost a huge part of my identity.


Throughout this recovery process, two incredible charities have helped me rediscover both sport and purpose again. Instead of telling me “you can’t do that,” they worked around my limitations and helped me focus on what was still possible.


Through their support, I was introduced to new opportunities and a completely new way of riding and was eventually able to acquire an off-road recumbent trike. For the first time since my injury, I was able to regain some of the freedom I thought I had lost forever. It has given me back an important part of who I am — even if that identity now looks very different to before.


Climb 2 Recovery has also introduced me to a community of like-minded people, including both serving personnel and veterans who have experienced injury and adversity themselves. They welcomed me into the sport of climbing regardless of my limitations and adapted sessions to what I could achieve. They have helped give me goals to work towards again during some incredibly difficult periods of recovery.

The Invictus Games Foundation has also opened the door to sports and opportunities I never thought possible, showing me that sport can still be accessible with the right adaptations and support.


To challenge myself and give something meaningful to work towards, I am undertaking a 7-day challenge on my recumbent trike. This challenge is about far more than distance alone. It is about continuing to push my rehabilitation forward, rebuilding my fitness, and proving to myself that injury does not have to define the rest of my life. It is helping prepare me physically and mentally for eventually returning fully to work without limitations.


At the same time, I want to raise awareness of these two amazing charities and the life-changing work they do for wounded, injured, and sick serving personnel and veterans. This is my opportunity to give something back and simply say thank you — for helping me regain a little piece of myself during what has been an incredibly long, arduous, and challenging recovery journey, where life could easily have taken a very different path.