Ultra-endurance adaptive cyclist. IT consultant and digital accessibility specialist. Founder of Wheels for Tenacious. 58 years old. 19+ years in a wheelchair. Still riding.
For most of my adult life, I was told what I couldn't do. By doctors, by specialists, by a body with 360,000 lifetime dislocations and a pharmacological profile that should have killed me.
In 2019, I faced a binary choice: stop all the opiates — fentanyl, methadone, morphine, OxyContin — or don't make it to the following year. The detox took 256 days. I came out the other side with better pain control than any medication had given me.
I have classical Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. Severe global dysautonomia including structural baroreflex failure. Complete gastrointestinal dysmotility — which means no oral medications, ever. Chronic pain managed without analgesia since 2019. Narcolepsy. Coronary heart disease.
In under two years at 58, I took my VO2 max from 30 to 55. My resting blood pressure from 198/141 to 108/61. I've ridden over 6,000 miles since my first year on a bike in 2023 — a year I began rebuilding my legs from scratch.
The medical system failed me for decades. Cycling didn't. That is not a motivational statement. It is a physiological fact that I spent years reverse-engineering.
Pain is my operating environment, not my enemy.
A six-component self-developed framework that replaces the autonomic functions my body can no longer perform reliably. This is not a mindset. It is architecture — systems thinking applied to a broken physiological stack.
What I've built isn't willpower. It is engineering around the gaps: anticipatory cognition replacing absent reflexes, mechanical motion substituting for a circulatory system that doesn't self-regulate, and data replacing symptom signals I simply do not receive.
"Not willpower. Architecture. I do not trust how I feel. I trust the numbers."
VO2 max progressed from 30 to 55 in under two years at age 58. Active self-management across five 24-hour blood pressure monitoring cycles reduced time above symptom threshold by 42% without pharmacological intervention. The framework is the mechanism.
Anticipatory decision-making replacing absent autonomic reflexes. I do not rely on symptoms as warning signals — they either don't arrive or arrive too late to be useful.
Cycling as circulatory and muscle-pump substitute. Stillness is a haemodynamic gamble. Motion is the intervention.
Precision scheduling of effort, rest, nutrition, and heat exposure within defined physiological windows. Timing is not a preference; it is a load-bearing component.
Micro-feeding as controlled infusion. GI absorption is unreliable. Fuel is managed to prevent haemodynamic shocks and circulatory collapse mid-effort.
Heat, cold, posture, and compression as active regulatory tools. The environment is not a backdrop — it is part of how I regulate blood pressure, circulation, and nerve function.
HRV, heart rate, and trend patterns replace subjective sensation. Internal somatic signals take priority for real-time decisions. Instruments validate and contextualise.
Senior IT consultant, digital accessibility specialist, and technical project leader. Former Senior Technical Design Architect at PricewaterhouseCoopers. Enterprise architecture thinking applied to systems, people, and performance.
Adaptive cyclist competing at ultra-endurance distances. 6,000+ miles since 2023. Managing one of the most complex multi-system physiological profiles in endurance sport — and riding anyway.
Founded and lead the UK's premier inclusive mixed-ability endurance cycling initiative. Route planner, challenge architect, website editor, social media lead, and the operational backbone behind every event.
Host of the Defying Limits podcast — exploring the edges of human performance, adaptive sport, and what it means to operate at the limit when the limit keeps moving.
407km AUDAX. Targeting 20 hours. The first major ultra of 2026 and the opening test of the pre-Yorkshire Divide taper block.
450 miles. 30,000ft of climbing. 138-hour time limit. In 2025, 35 riders started and none had a chronic illness. That changes in May 2026.
221 miles. Liverpool to Cardiff. The UK's first inclusive ultra-endurance coast-to-coast. Mixed-ability team completing every mile together as equals. Over 100 miles traffic-free.
The next multi-day, fully supported mixed-ability endurance event. Route and format in development. Follows the ethos that has defined every Wheels for Tenacious challenge since 2022.
| Year | Event | Distance | Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 2022 | Pulling Together Up Snowdon | 11.7 mi | Wheels for Tenacious | Wheelchair. Rotator cuff torn, mile one. £20,100 raised. |
| Jun 2023 | BHF London to Brighton | 54 mi | Solo | 4h 45m. Self-adapted hybrid bike. 6 months from wheelchair. |
| Sep 2023 | Race the Ship | 197 mi | Wheels for Tenacious | 4.5 days. Great Yarmouth to London. 14-person mixed-ability team. |
| Jan 2024 | Tour de Broads — Winter Series | 54 mi | Solo | Non-stop. Freezing cold. 46 miles into headwind. Mixed roads, gravel, bridleways |
| Feb 2024 | Ipswich to Peterborough | 105 mi | Solo · Unsupported | First Century. 3,019ft. One stop to replenish water. No prior training. |
| Mar 2024 | Cambridgeshire Classic | 62 mi | Solo | Hip subluxation 20 mi from finish. Pace adjusted. Finished. |
| Apr 2024 | Peterborough to Northampton | 48 mi | Solo · Unsupported | Non-stop. |
| May 2024 | RideLondon | 63.1 mi | Solo | 3h 50m, 15.8 mph avg. 2,500ft, Pre-ride HRV 11ms. 1h30m sleep. SpO2 92%. Non-stop. System held. |
| Jun 2024 | BHF London to Brighton Plus | 82 mi | Solo | Second year. One stop for water. |
| Jun 2024 | Chase the Sun — South | ~80 mi | DNF | 205 mi attempt. DNF at ~80 mi. Traffic, chronic pain, and GI failure compounded beyond safe threshold. Chose to stop. Not the same as failing. |
| Sep 2024 | Peterborough Greenwheel | 42 mi | Solo · Unsupported | 3h 01m, 14 mph avg. Non-stop. Gravel, Road, Off-Road |
| Sep 2024 | Peterborough Greenwheel Plus | 55 mi | Solo · Unsupported | 4h 15m 12.8 mph avg. Non-stop. Gravel, Road, Off-Road |
| Sep 2024 | Peterborough to Cambridge Plus | 57 mi | Solo · Unsupported | 4h 01m 14.1 mph avg. Non-stop. |
| Sep 2024 | BHF London to Brighton Off-Road | 65 mi | Solo | Tore Rotator Cuff in two places 10 days before. Rode Anyway. Pure Mudfest |
| Oct 2024 | Barry to Gloucester Quays | 92 mi | Wheels for Tenacious | 3 days. ITV Wales coverage. |
| May 2025 | Lincoln to Peterborough | 102 mi | Solo · Unsupported | Non-stop. 23mph headwind all day. Felt like dragging a parachute |
| Jul 2025 | Dunwich Dynamo Plus (Night) | 148.25 mi | Solo · Unsupported | Kings Cross to Norwich. 12h28m. Pre-ride HRV 17ms. |
| Sep 2025 | Cantii Way | 144 mi | Wheels for Tenacious | Knee cartilage tear night before. Pre-ride HRV 17ms. Completed. |
| Mar 2026 | Ride London Lockdown (Night) | 100 mi | Solo · Unsupported | 7h 46m 30s. Non-stop overnight. Critical Mass escort opening. |
| May 2026 | Liverpool to Cardiff | 221 mi | Solo · Unsupported | 2 Days. Road. Gravel. Towpaths. Bikepacking |
25+ years as an IT consultant, digital accessibility specialist, and technical project leader. I apply the same systems-thinking discipline I use to manage a broken physiology to the design and delivery of complex technology projects.
Defying
Limits
Conversations at the edge of human performance, adaptive sport, and what it means to operate at the limit when the limit keeps shifting.
The Defying Limits podcast explores what performance means when the body is the primary constraint. Guests and solo episodes covering adaptive endurance, physiological self-management, mindset and resilience, and the practical mechanics of pushing past what medicine considers possible.
Hosted by David Bainbridge. Episodes cover the full scope: the Prosthetic Physiology framework, Wheels for Tenacious events, the psychology of long-duration effort, and honest accounts of what managing a complex condition in competition actually looks like.
For IT consulting, digital accessibility projects, speaking engagements, Wheels for Tenacious partnerships, podcast enquiries, or anything Prosthetic Physiology reach out directly.
Based in Peterborough, England. Available for IT consulting and digital accessibility projects, speaking and mentoring on resilience and adaptive performance, Wheels for Tenacious event partnerships and sponsorship, and Prosthetic Physiology thought-leadership collaboration.
The Substack bio says it best: Chronic illness isn't the story. It's the road.