He Lost His Arm, Now He’s Cycling 2500 Miles – The Wild Ones Podcast Ep.40 SPECIAL

Check out the audio versions of the podcast here: https://podfollow.com/the-wild-ones/view

In this special extended episode of The Wild Ones Podcast we’re joined by paracyclist Dan Richards, who lost his right arm and shoulder in a motorbike accident at age 23… and says it’s the best thing that ever happened to him. His powerful story – from a young soldier, to rebuilding his life from rock bottom to now preparing for a 2500 mile race across Europe – provides lessons in resilience and determination that we can all learn from, and we’re so grateful to him for sharing it with us.

00:00 ‘Losing my arm was the best thing that ever happened’
03:35 ‘I was bullied relentlessly’
07:41 Joining the army and Afghanistan tour
12:27 The day Dan’s life changed forever…
15:00 ‘they put me into a coma in the road’ *TW:Graphic injury detail*
18:13 Waking up in hospital
22:19 ‘I had to learn to write, tie shoelaces & dress myself again’
24:45 ‘You can be a victim of your situation, or you can adapt’
28:19 Re-joining the military
31:07 Getting discharged
34:10 ‘I had 15p to my name…’ *TW:Suicide attempt*
39:00 Mental health and suicide support
39:28 ‘I was driving celebrities around but couldn’t afford my heating’
46:14 Saying yes to every opportunity
49:19 Rowing the Atlantic: dealing with rejection
51:03 France is NOT flat!
53:54 Training for the Invictus Games on a £5 turbo trainer
59:01 Race Across America
01:04:37 4000km Ultra Race Across Europe
01:07:47 Dan’s adapted bike setup
01:12:34 How does Dan stay motivated?
01:15:20 Learning how to fail, and why it’s a good thing
01:19:21 The importance of evolving your objectives
01:25:56 HELP! We need your questions for Nic and James

If you’d like us to send in a question, story, some good news, things you’d like us to discuss or anything else, email us at wildonespodcast@cademedia.co.uk
Thanks and see you next time.

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Welcome to a very special episode of The Wild Ones podcast the show where we talk about bike stuff I’m Jimmy and I’m here with producer Emily and today’s special guest the one-armed Bradley Wiggins AKA Paras cyclist Dan Richards welcome to the show oh hello thanks for having me I

Mean the one armed Bradley Wiggins is literally a brand new one I’ve take the compliment I hope he’s not offended so well I I saw a picture of you uh you’ve got a Geyer accent just like Bradley Wiggins i’ definitely seen a picture of you with a flat cap on which

I’ve also seen Bradley wearing you bikes he rides bikes so there we go one on Bradley Wingers I think I think he rode bikes better than I ever will but yeah I take the I take the I love a compliment who doesn’t yeah riding bikes is riding

Bikes it’s all fine yeah no thank you very much I mean it’s it’s a brand new one I wonder if I could put that on my bio definitely you should i’ oh I’ve got I’ve got my bio on Instagram has a quote from a YouTube comment from probably

About six years ago where someone said Jimmy uh oh I can’t even remember what it is what is it um the Tom Ford of cycling yeah someone said Jimmy’s the Tom Ford of cycling I’m like I’ll take that and I will keep that forever I mean

I’m going to I’m going to put that but then I’m going to I’ll turn up one day to do a talk or something and I’ll be like yeah the one I’m Bradley Wiggins who’s calling him that who’s this who’s this who’s he think he is yeah get him

Off the stage yeah one arm Bradley Wiggins who do you think he is yeah so Dan is a veteran and a mega strong cyclist who has raced Across America and represented Great Britain in the Invictus game he also goes by another name the one-armed wonder and that’s because back

In 2009 at the age of just 23 he was in a motorbike accident when he woke up in hospital he found out his right arm and shoulder had been amputated from this point on his life shifted dramatically and what followed is an incredibly inspiring story of resilience if you’re

Struggling for motivation or looking for inspiration on goal setting or working through challenges you’re going to want to stick around for this episode because believe it or not in Dan’s own words losing his arm is the best thing that ever happened to him Dan’s story is so

Interesting in fact that we’re going to skip the news this week and dive straight in so Dan do you want to start from the beginning and tell us about yourself and how you got to where you are today yeah well thanks for the introduction you tell it better than I

Can and and I’ve lived the story but um yeah as you said um losing my arm and my shoulder yes is it’s the best thing that happens to me um which sounds really kind of like it deserves a couple of hashtags and a a cliche caption to written after it but

No I stand by it unequivocally um obviously when it happened I didn’t wake up in the hospital and they said oh yeah unfortunately your arm and shoulders gone I didn’t go oh that’s brilliant you know what it’s it’s going to be sausage and beans all day long in it so no it

Was it’s always it’s always in hindsight it’s always in retrospect I’ve been I’ve been a able to and it’s afforded me uh opportunities may or may not have been there yeah I don’t know I can’t I can’t think him what if I don’t think in what if

Um had it not have happened I probably won’t be or I I probably wouldn’t have done even half the things I’ve been fortunate and able to do um and yeah it’s it’s been it’s it’s been a character building number of years I’m sure it has

I was going to say do you want to start from the beginning your your sort of upbringing and how you got into the army and that yeah so I was brought up I was brought up in I guess a military family my my my my dad was in the Army well my

Biological father was in the Army um I don’t have a relationship with him um um I think it’s it’s a mutual thing before we carry on as well for ease of convers when I mention my dad officially it’s my stepdad but he’s my dad only

Person I’ve known as Dad but um my dad was in the Army so my mom met my dad I was four and um he was in the Army I grew up in a little town called tidworth a massive Garrison town and I used to just watch him go out to work in his

Uniform and and whatnot and see with his friends and stuff and I was 8 years old when I told Mom and Dad you when I’m old enough that’s I’m going to be like Dad and join the Army and and I guess you looking back on it

That gave me the the the direction that I needed in life I I knew from a very early age what I wanted to do who I wanted to be and for the most part as I got older what I needed to do to get there I don’t get me wrong I was toyed

Around with you know any kid would do like I’m going to be a doctor I’m going to be a vet I’m going to be an astronaut and all this stuff um but it all I always came back to being in the military yeah being in the army or or

Whatever and um I was 17 when I left home for the first time for anything longer than a weekend and that was to go basic training how did you find school school was not very good yeah I SCH then um I didn’t I didn’t enjoy school I

Couldn’t wait to leave I was bullied relentlessly I was the tallest in my year um and um my ears I kind of grew into my ears so um there was a kid at school called Richard Roberts who was a lot smaller than me shorter than me and um his nickname for me from

Years 8 through to 11 was the lanky big ears [ __ ] oh my gosh um original yeah don’t mintty words but um yeah he uh yeah he made my life misery in school school is sad Savage isn’t it yeah and I didn’t I didn’t I just didn’t enjoy it I

Was a very shy boy yeah growing up very shy um very quiet had my own little group of friends kept myself to myself I rode a bike to school and whatnot and I was I used I used to race myself to school I it’s about a three mile journey to

School but then obviously being a kid and certainly growing up you hitting puberty and stuff you stin for the rest of the day of Bo as just as it begins to find its way to your armpits and it so um yeah it was um I didn’t enjoy school now but do you

Know what I I found out later on in you know later on in life a few years ago that that that boy um he he’s no longer with us he he ‘re having a bad time of of life and so it’s kind of one of those things where

You I think it doesn’t condone it like I hate B one of bullies and thieves uh my biggest hates in the world but it kind of I guess in a way bullies bully people because they’re having a bit of a time of it in their own life and and

They feel better they make feel better by bullly than other people and it’s yeah it’s it’s it’s take one and give it the other didn’t you so I I forgave it I forgave it when I found out I was like I you know what I’m not going to live with that anymore like

Yeah so bit deep was it bit deep for early on so you went so you left school and you went into the army at 17 yeah um I didn’t know I wanted to do in the Army like I just know I wanted to be in it uh

And one thing that dad always told me growing up and certainly the day I left for for the Army as well was um if this is what you’re going to do with your life make sure you find you pick a trade so that when you leave you’ve got

Something to fall back on you can build a career in something else when you do leave whether that’s after four years or or 22 years so I ended up joining a regiment called The King Street raw horse artillery and it is a Mount they call it mounted regimen so you’re you’re mounted

On Horseback um I knew absolutely nothing about the eoin world how to ride a horse anything but when it was when the dream was sold to me in basic training mhm um I said what trades are there and they Reed a few off and they were like Taylor

And storan and and they said farer I said what’s a farer it’s a blacksmith I said say no more I like the S I researched it a bit and then sort of found out you know at 17 really I was in the middle of basic training I was as a

Farer I could make a pretty good living for myself have my own business and hopefully retire relatively young so I kind of I join I join this king’s troop then and with the sole purpose of becoming a farer but then and I wanted World experience and life

Experience and and the Army is well the military is many things but you will get a lot of World Experience you’ll get a lot of life experience and you’ll be put in situations where you’re forced to grow up pretty quickly um I it never sat right with me in in in in

My younger years of joining the military just a Pat hores I called it like so in 2007 went off to Afghanistan spent sort of six seven months there came back from that found myself trekking the pool in the Himalayas came back from that and that was two that the end of 2008 you

Definitely got to your wish of some life experience and seeing the world then yeah I mean Afghanistan was you Afghanistan as a country is a very very beautiful country very mountainous which it’s kind of on like a bit of a plateau so the Northern end so the Cabo way it’s

Like 10,000 ft above sea level and then you’ve got down south sort of towards like Pakistan and so on Helman Province it’s very sort of low um and so the weather is very very different it’s freezing cold in the winter in cabal well it’s freezing cold in in the South

As well but between the two it’s a lot colder up north um and the poll as well was like I I remember flying into into Catman do and and this is pre- earthquake as well a Catman had a really bad earthquake I think in 2012 I think it was and like

Naul is at the time I don’t know about now but nepool at the time was class as a third world developing country and in both scenarios Afghanistan and theal you got to see children with absolutely nothing really happy and it kind of puts into perspective what we take for

Granted you know if your Amazon pass turn up because you’ve paid for a Prime Membership which ensures your package gets delivered you know tomorrow or by 10:00 tonight and it’s like come on like mhm yeah it’s it’s it puts a lot of things in perspective and and realigns your

Values and what you do value I’m by no means asane by the way like yeah I do get really angry not angry I get really annoyed when something doesn’t go Amazon doesn’t show up when Amazon doesn’t show up yeah but um no it’s it’s so you do get a lot of

Life experience World experience and you are forced to grow up pretty quickly I mean I grow up pretty quickly in Afghanistan yeah a bit but I wasn’t a front line I wasn’t on the front line I was I was working with the indigenous population uh who wanted to be

Interpreters yeah but those were my prerequisite boxes for becoming a farer I wanted to do them before I sort of become before I wanted to kind of entertain that Avenue and I came back from Nepal and and said this is what I want to do I’m only in the king streo

Before this reason and they were like look if that’s what you want to do fair enough but we need to get um Queen’s birthday prayed out of the way and this was it was Queen’s birthday pray 2009 troop in the color that is known as as well and um I

Did there there’s there’s there’s one rehearsal and then there’s two reviews before the actual one I did what I did the first review full dress review on the 30th of May 2009 and on Sunday the 31st of May 2009 was involved in the collision with the central reservation riding back to

St John’s with barracks and uh presented with a set of circumstance aners which kind of dictated the rest of my life so almost the most shocking thing about your entire story is that you served in the military in Afghanistan in an active War whatever the correct term is for

What was going on there and that isn’t the reason that you have one up it’s ironic isn’t it I do consider myself quite lucky though that I wasn’t blown up or or or anything um there are a few people when in the early days of my my

Injury who I was in in my regiment um because I was going down this route of help for Heroes and so on and and and the various benefits of being in ut as part of the military um who took it upon themselves to kind of ensure that I wasn’t telling

People that I’ve been blown up right as if that I was taking Glory from it right yeah fck them guys um sorry um but call it what you want I was in a motorcycle accident right back to the barracks probably happened because I was being a bit Dar being a bit stupid but

You know people make mistakes and there’s a few people that liked to what diminish it or diminish it yeah um because it didn’t happen in active so and like at the end of the day it still happened I me yeah exactly so and it was why as well when help for Heroes first

Approached me at Headley Court which at the time was the defense medical Rehabilitation Center I actually refused the help mhm CU I’m not a hero help for Heroes so I’ve not been injured on tour and that’s when they you know chap called Mark Elliot who is still with

Help for Heroes help set it up he said stop being stupid you know here’s the help you need the if you want the help take it that’s great and so yeah I I owe a lot to that initial footstep into that side of it to Mark Elliot from

H for Heroes can you talk a little bit about the extent of the injuries yeah so I’ve got no memory of the accident whatsoever I don’t get flashbacks or anything um but I had hit the central reservation shoulder first um and it was it was on the a41

The henden southbound henden way on a long sweeping corner and um there’s on that road if anyone that knows it on that there’s a fence that goes that so you’ve got the the barrier and there’s a fence that goes down the middle I hit the fence where two panels meet in it’s solid

Steel where two panels meet in the middle um shoulder first which ripped my arm and shoulder off on site and you had full Leathers on as well didn’t you I had full levers on bust the levers open the zip was still done up wow so it’s good zip

Yeah um ripped my arm and shoulder off on site pretty much um broke both my ankles my left my left forearm was uh snapped in uh various places to the point where Owen who was a paramedic said your hand was Cup in your elbow um and we had to

Pull that straight before we could put the drugs in I can’t remember any of this thankfully but they put me into the comr in the road um intubated me on site uh because I had seven morchal plexus out of my spinal column and lacerated my internal jugular so I was profusely

Bleeding there’s a chat with me a friend a friend from the military called Allan who uh who saved my life really um um he sort of controlled my blood flow at the scene before the police and the paramedics turned up um and yeah put into the coma and when I

When I when I came out of the coma in the Royal London and White Chapel that’s when I kind of realized the extent of what what happened I thought I was waking up in my barracks in the room you know that however long I was in that

Coma for I think it was a day or two um I can’t I can’t recollect obviously I was put into the coma but the last vivid memory I’ve got is we were filtering away we were filtering through traffic to some traffic lights and I was at the front and as I got kind

Of a car in half length from the front car lights turned green cars are moving off dual carriageway so I just pulled the throttle back to get out of the way filtering through and yeah in the outside laying the Dual carriageway and yeah whatever happened happens

So don’t know how it happened don’t know why it happened the police don’t know what happened but I said I’m pretty sure I was going probably a bit too fast um for my abilities and paid the price for it but you know you learn from your mistakes and you so mhm play stupid

Games and you win stupid prizes yeah this is it and age of 23 as well you know yeah it’s a very it’s a massive shock to the system I don’t regret it happening and like like you said at the beginning it’s probably the greatest thing happened to me but I imagine the

In the immediate aftermath of that that is not what you’re feeling no do you know what so I was brought around from the coma um and I remember my mom and dad peering peering over me and in my room in the which is a tiny little room which

I didn’t have to share with anyone my bed was right next to the wall and so I can understand why my dad was stood on the right because to the right was the door and the rest of my room but my mom being stood on the left I was thinking how are

You stood there there’s no space there’s no space like literally my beds here my windows there but then I’ve got that I’m hit by the the kind of the an CD peppery Taste of anesthetic in the back of my throat obviously I’ve been in hospital but I’ve had operations before so I

Recogn I recognize that that kind of sensation so that I’m thinking well something bad has happened I don’t know what I don’t know why I’m here I need to go put my motor bike away and that’s when you haven’t got a bike it’s so I thought someone pinched it and stolen

It and then the doctor came in and that’s when he sort of started at the bottom of the beds I can see my feet were cast so I thought i’ broken both my legs and how the hell I broke said you got two broken ankles the left one would he be sitting with

Pins um and then he came up to the left and as he came up I’ve noticed a blue foam cast in it is my arm look into it and there’s like external fixators into my like scaffolding you’ve uh you’ve severely fractured your radius in your owner you will need plates to reset that

Um so then you think oh but broken arm broken broken ankles right we we can live with that there’s not much really and then he walk back down I remember he walk back down round round the bottom and then back up the right and so I’m watching him as I’m watching

Him he said but unfortunately and any sentence it doesn’t matter the situation that starts unfortunately you know isn’t really going to bode too well unfortunately after 6 and 1 half hours of surgery we were unable to save your and it’s it time kind of slowed down um we were unable to save your

Right arm and shoulder and I remember looking down where this should have been was the pillow there was nothing it wasn’t wasn’t there and that’s when I kind that’s when it hit home it was like a massive shock to the system and um and I got a bit upset and obviously anyone

Would but at 23 and I think being that young as well being that young in life in general vanity is a massive part of your life anyway um and I just remember thinking at the time how bad a situation this is but then you’re thinking

Like who’s going to want me now you what I mean like I’m going to yeah girls aren’t going to find me attractive CU I’m I look weird and and all of this and and and so it’s all just it all just it’s like a ball that’s being

Rolled down like a snowball being rolled down it just gets bigger and bigger as it goes down so I was upset and and whatnot and then for some reason I remember this for batim and the nurse was sort of stood here and I said I I grabbed the gown and

I went is the plumbing still attached and working and she went oh that’s fine you’ve got CF hang in out of it but other than that it’s fine I went do you know what nothing else really matters does it there people worse off than me and it got a few l

Looking back on that moment that’s the moment I can wholeheartedly say is the moment I accepted my situation for what it was this is the situation okay my arm is never coming back I’m going to be a man one arm for the rest of my life was involved with this probably a

Week or two later wheeled into the toilet I’m nonweightbearing as well and I just had an enema I’ve never felt any more vulnerable in my life than having that but but they wielded me into the toilet 23 years old and they said when you finished pull the orange cord and

Someone will come in and TI you up I I just went you know if I can’t wipe my own ass and I’ve got the I’ve got the ability to be able to do so I need to have a strongly worded word with myself and so I spent an hour and a half

In that toilet my hand was I had my arm was reset at this point and so I had I had my fingers to to use it’s been hour and a half wiping my own ass and they said why you pull the orange cord and they went I said no I

Was like I need my Independence back and that was the first goal I ever set post injury there’s so much involved with Independence it’s not just writing it’s not just doing buttons and shoelaces and so on it’s so much more um and yeah so it was it was I just

Figured I’ve got all this time in hospital now I was in the hospital for two months all up in two different hospitals and um I I just figured you know I’ve got all this time in between visiting hours I can sit here and fester like some kind and feel sorry for

Myself or I can just pull my [ __ ] together and just get on with this new way life and uh I had plastic boots plastic boots over my casts cuz I had my ankles my left ankle reset with pins and a handyman came in and and I just said

Oh I said can you join me me some holes in these boots please and I can have a bit of string he said what for I said look I was right hand dominant I’m now left-handed not by choice but um I want tie shoe laces and so in between

Visiting hours I would just I learn to write again like learn to write uh I I try and learn to do shoelaces and whatnot and I got someone to bring me a shirt in so I learned buttons up on a shirt that’s incredible especially at that age and to have gone

Through what you’ve gone through just to well just to be that focused on living you know that focused on I I have to do this stuff so that I can continue to live and be a normal functioning human being it’s incredible it is absolutely inredible I just I just thank you um I

Just think that throughout life you’re always going to come to Junctions and you know people always say oh no you there’s three or there’s four there’s not there’s two there is there is two directions yes or no right or wrong when you start adding others in

You oh what about I don’t know I don’t know it’s irrelevant maybe is irrelevant it’s like make a decision go with it and for me that was I can be a victim of my situation or I can just get on with it adapt this new way of

Life uh cuz I’m not about where is me I’m not about like I said there people worse off than me you know I don’t I I don’t live the terminal illness I don’t live in a water on country you know it’s I am alive so and and I it sounds really

Wanky and cliche but time owes you absolutely nothing life owes you absolutely nothing you owe life and time everything you can give it so I was like I want to be one arm for the rest of my life my arm’s never coming back um so that’s a situation

What are you going to do about it I’m not going to be a victim so sympathies are well and good and has a purpose part of her process but at some point you have to leave the sympathy behind and you have to you know pull yourself together you really do have to pull

Yourself together you know take the [ __ ] with the sand or sorry take the rough with the smooth and go with the hand that your dealt whether you like it or not you know that’s just the way that’s that’s my outlook on life it’s taken trauma and Trauma isn’t just about

Losing a limb there’s there’s so many different facets of trauma my trauma has dealt me this hand so I can I can make the choice of of of putting my hand down or I can just play the hand i’m dealt which I’m I’m I’m very aware that

This all sounds clich or it’s it’s easy for you no no it’s easy for anyone you’ve just got to be I’ve become a person as as a result of this that if I can’t control the influence on the outcome of a situation and I’m ruthless

About this I do not waste my time effort or energy in trying to and like people I’ve SP people about before and they’ve gone oh yeah it’s easier done no no no no it is easy to do you might not like the situation you’ve got but at the end of the

Day if you can’t why why why waste your time trying to fix something that can’t be fixed at that moment in time maybe later on WE we’ll come to that what can you do there’s always something that can there’s always something that can be done there’s a good saying that’s like

Um control the things you can change and accept the things you can’t yeah it might even be part of the alcoholic synonymous pledge or something but it’s that kind of idea isn’t it it’s you you dealt the hand you dealt and you have to

Be able to roll with it and do the best you can kind of thing yeah you you’ve got to roll with the punches you you have to you have to and there’s that there’s that there’s that thing isn’t there is it is it what Rocky film is that from it

Doesn’t matter how many how many times you get hit it’s about how many times you can get hit down and keep getting back up yeah Denzel Washington says something similar and he says you fall down seven times get up eight I love I love that that’s one of my favorite

Quotes So after the accident you obviously had a couple of well many months presumably of rehab what you were presumably still in the Army at that point yeah so what happened with going back to the Army so I um I was given in hospital I was given the option um you

Know if you want to leave you can but my attitude was I’m not going to leave I’m not leaving um the Army the military is all I wanted to do growing up I’m not going to let one bad day dictate the rest of my

Life um so I said I’m going to go to rehab with the goal of returning back to my regimen and and finding something to do I found out pretty quickly I was never going to be a farer uh you can adapt things so much but the reality of that trade is is

You you you you need at very least I needed the residual limb I haven’t got that um I tried to make a hoof pick um a very basic hoof pick take a piece of metal heat it up and bend it into an S an s- shaped thing I couldn’t I couldn’t

I couldn’t hold it still I could hold it still but I can’t hammer it you know you trying to do that with a horse just moving around and so on yeah ain’t happening so um I I accepted that but I thought you there’s other things I can

Do you know there’s the stores you know there’s there’s various other things I can do but at the time the military were going through the the mod were going through the cutbacks and the Army was taking the biggest and essentially you you have to do two roles obviously your job but everyone’s

Trained in the Army whether you are uh whether you’re a chef or a clerk or anything in between a Frontline infantry Soldier your your basic training is about teaching you the basics of soldiering um I couldn’t do that I can’t run my weight I can’t wear a Bergen

Um I can’t carry a rifle I can’t fire a rifle um so yeah it was kind of like I just do one job and so I I was I stayed in the M for three years relearned to ride a horse got my fitness back because

I was quite aware that you know I’ve got this disability now I don’t want to be a syp the cas I’m certainly not going to be you know military or not I’m I’m not going to be someone that just sits on the side collecting dust feeling sorry for myself and and and and

And being a waster so to speak so I uh so I worked on my fitness got my fitness back um I couldn’t do press UPS or pull-ups or anything but I can run them mile and a half I can do situps I can carry weight in one

Hand so we’ll work on those things and that’s about controlling the controllables but yeah three years later I went from I went in for a medical board which I had every year and every year was it was it was there I was told I was it was shown that I was really

Going above and beyond to sort of I guess earn my earn my space as part of the military but this this this this when I went in it was a bit different there was more people say sting there and the Crux of it really was the minute

You leave this room you’re no longer insured to do anything military ever again including making cups to tee anyone other than yourself so that was it that was that was the that was the the 12th of March 2012 I was in fley Park Hospital on the 13th of March having my left ankle

Fused and and the 14th of March I was in help for Heroes Recovery Center tedb house going through the sixth month transition period between leaving the military between you know walking out of the camp gates for the last time and then entering the world of we we call the

Cppy street M so was this exciting to start something new or is it the opposite the first year of when was eight months of leaving the Army are probably the worst eight months of this entire situation I found myself in you know I I thought to myself I’m going to

Have a month off too unwind I’ve been used to living you know routine every single day knowing I I knew every single day what time I had to be somewhere in what in what in what order a dress and and what I had to do and now I’ve that’s

All taken away from me and it’s kind of I’ve got free reign if you like so I wanted to kind of get used to that I thought a month is a enough I I had money saved up over the years I got bored after two weeks um so I began

Applying for work and this is when everything began to spiral downhill that eight months became 320 seven job applications of which not one led to anything anything sub basic not even a networking opportunity I probably had five replies and this is what was the most disheartened about it I had five

And it was five replies um one of which is from a cleaning job um I haven’t got the skills or experiences that you require and you just think you know i’ I’ve been to Afghanistan you know I’ve I’ve I’ve dealt with multilingual Multicultural situations you know I’ve

I’ve I’ve been a line manager I’ve I’ve LED I’ve I’ve been a I’ve been a manager for people and you’re saying I haven’t got the skills experience to clean up a toilet come on but I mean this is this this is towards the end of it you know

But running parallel those all the rejection you know I was living on my savings on my you know the money I’d saved up I had a car I had to get rid of that um because I couldn’t afford to run it and I remember the morning it was

August and uh I had to RX and reinsure my car and I went to pay for it online and um my carard declined did it again declined check my online banking I had 15 P to my name everything had gone um and yeah Mom and

Dad got out to work Mom Mom and her new husband my stepdad had had gone out to work that morning and uh I just saw my reflection in the mirror and I was just like if this is what life’s got installed for me after everything I’ve been

Through I I really I really rather be part of it you know and there a way there up you know 27 years old at the time I’ve got no money I can’t get a job no matter how hard I try um every door is slammed like literally slammed in my

Face um I live at home with essentially Mom and Dad uh in effectively my old room whil most people my age are getting well established in their careers probably on the housing ladder by now starting families and I’m living at 27 like a 16-year-old kid what I really got

To look forward to you know this is what life’s got in store for me I I don’t part of it partway through doing that uh I um this thought of mom finding me coming home from work mom finding me in my room and I was like I need to go back to

London I need to go to London like Rock Bottom is an awful place to be in regardless of the situation it really is and then you know I’m not the only one that’s been there I imagine you guys have been there at various points in anyone listening has been at Rock Bottom

For whatever reason um what I have found with my rock bottom was how much more clearer decisions were to make I need to get back to London I don’t know I don’t know how that even came about I guess I’d spent my military career in London so I knew

London relatively well but I also knew that’s where opportunities lie um did you ever tell your mom I mean I’m guessing she’s listen you’ve talked about this on other podcasts I’m guessing she knows now did you tell her at the time I felt really bad about it um I felt ashamed Yeah by

And yeah I think ini I I told Mom three years later how bad it got and and I saw how bad that how much it ruined her like really really it would any par upset any parent that that loves their kids but um um yeah I think now I choose to talk about

It quite openly because it should be spoken about the conversation around it and and this and and and the the factors that lead to Awful decisions like that should be normalized should be widely spoken about because certainly as men and it’s the conversation is a lot better now the talk around mental

Health it’s it’s no longer a subject which is kind of seen as a taboo topic I think it should be normalized it should be spoken about and so you know I have a I have a you know a presence if you like a very a very small

Presence on social media you know and whilst I don’t rub that in people’s faces it’s part of my story and every kind of chapter in my story from losing the arm to the suicide attempt and everything in between is an asset to the life of Dan

If you like and and if people can take something from my experiences even if it’s just one person and that is that is that that is the you know the the the saying isn’t it if I can help one person brilliant but it’s absolutely true it’s one more person

That deserves to be in the world deserves to be in a loving family and it deserves to be around their friends and family because believe it or not the world is a better place because yeah be upset yeah because you’re in it absolutely and you deserve

To stick around to see your life get back on track which you never would have and you’re in amazing position today and you never would have been able to see that otherwise yeah I’m sorry both going to get upset should we have a break yep yeah sorry

For that brief interlude we had to have a little break didn’t we um thankfully I’m wearing waterproof mascara a day but if you have been affected by anything that we just talked about in that section then please know that you can get help you can go to the Samaritans

Dorg or mind.org or if you feel that your life is in danger you can ring 999 let’s move on to some happier parts thank you very much for telling us about that stuff I know it’s very heavy let’s talk about your next chapter which is you became a shaer didn’t you yeah yeah

It’s ironic really it’s like a twist of fate like my lowest e things kind of began to fall into place I wanted to get back to London and I’ve been offered a job as a chauffeur with this startup company called Capstar um set up by two Military Officers uh and their remit was

Employing the veteran Community with a with a with a percentage of the workforce being what what what what we call wounded injured and sick are people that have been injured as part of or during the service um which I I fall into that category

Um and I i’ moved into a spare room of uh a friend’s house uh and I stayed there for about six months it was in wokingham um and then I had to leave and found myself in a little village just outside Windsor called risbury and I liveed there in this very

Small a static home a h you know Holiday Homes MH you get one of those but I mean this thing was awful like it leaked had holes in it um the only luxury and this is this is this this was a luxury was it was it was plumbed into the grid so I

Could flush the toilet and run the Taps and not have to wait for the the cess pit guy to come and sort me out you know what I mean so um but you know I was coming out a very I was coming out a financial situation so I was driving

These people around and I was surrounded by affluence and success and on some occasions you know Fame and celebrity as well that being the people that you were chauffeuring around chaffering yeah yeah and towards the end of that job actually there was eight of us we were hired help

For the Royal Muse so we were the Royal Muse is like you the transportation for the royal family and so on um and how I was living you couldn’t get Poopers if you tried um you I was living pretty much a part if it weren’t for the Caravan I’d

Be homeless um but like how I was living versus the people that were s in my car um yeah it was po opposite it was I mean no one had any idea uh um CU every day I turn up to work my my my shirts were iron my suit was clean my

Shoes were shiny and you know as awful as that Caravan was I kept it clean and tidy and you know there was it was a saying we had in the military and it’s like if you got somewhere to if you got somewh to sleep you’re right well the

Caravan provided that so but I couldn’t afford in the winter to keep it warm um I couldn’t afford the gas canisters and there’s some months as well that I couldn’t afford to go shopping um like get you know fill my cupboards up um so i’ I i’ I’d live as

Far into the month on my paycheck as I could um you but but but then this is it you know my bills are all paid so as long as so long as where I was living was you know um looked after everything else is kind of secondary and it you sometimes

It would be the most it was like two weeks week and a half I’d live on custard cream biscuits and Cups of Tea um because the custard creams have filled me up breakfast lunch and dinner until I got paid um there were some Charities there were a couple of Charities that

Helped me out uh small ones like the veterans charity and so on um and it’s only because they kind of met me and so on or I met up with the founder various kind of things that he happened to be at with his with his um

Uh Trader his charity Trader um you know a couple of times get knock at the door been asked the delivery uh home shopping delivery would turn out and I’d have I’d have I’d have tins and and and long life things to fill my covers up you know for

Have to worry about going shopping but being surrounded by these you know the clients you know seeing affluence and success on the level I’d never kind of encountered in my life before or since um but I remember like sitting Caravan with my custom cream biscuits right underneath Terminal 5 like flight

Path like every night seconds my my TV signal would drop out because there’s a plane flew over um I’m pretty sure there’s tire marks on the on the roof of that Caravan that L but um I just thinking this is sh this is awful there’s got to be something better than

This and and one day I don’t know what it was but I just I just wanted to know the people that are s in my car you know no matter how famous they are or how how how how rich they are and whatever like what are they doing when

No one else is looking that’s giving them their get up and go and I think that’s the important bit it’s the self validation when no one else is when there’s no cameras when there’s no audience when there’s no when it’s it’s just you in a car because if it’s

Working for them why can’t it work for me and I began to Cherry Pig kind of personality attributes motivations and I I guess I couldn’t give you the list of what it was but it transpired to give it a a topic area it was a value of

Time what can I do before I start work to make my day a little bit easier or a little bit more productive and so on and you know I I work with one person I was I was I was second to one person who worked in the city and um 3 days a

Week his schedule was he was at the gym his gym was at like 6:00 in the morning so then I I used to get up and ready and then turn up at the address on time but then he’s getting up two three hours before he needs to be in the

Office to go in you know on this three days a week or whatever to go to the gym I hang on a minute if he’s doing this before his day starts why can’t I some sometimes it’s you know it’s not feasible because it’s ridiculous time in the morning but so if

I can get up like 2 hours early and go walk for a walk around risb before I have to get in the car and what I did find was I was so much more awake and ready for the day after a 15 20 30 minute walk around the village I just

Decided one day you know what any opportunity I get from now on I don’t care what it is I don’t care if I can do it or not I’m just going to say yes and I’ve written myself off so much in the past I can’t do that because of X or or

What what my friends going to say what are my friends in the Army going to say if they see me trying to do this they’re going to think I’m stupid like what’s the point and I was like No And The Beauty of it is saying yes to something

Will put you on a path of something else it’ll open other doors whether it’s one door or multiple doors um the opportunity is the key to open that door and that door would never appeared if if if it hadn’t happened spe killing cliches and and quotes now but I I think

As well the more things that you try and the more things that you do the more you learn what you don’t want to do going forward as well yeah so like you have to you have to do stuff to know what path you want to take yeah exactly exactly

And um and so after that kind of epiphany if you like um you know I was I was taken away to Egypt and I qualified as a scuba diver you know a paopa more a screw diver um nothing was adapted for me it was with a charity called dep

Therapy which I think now unfortunately they’ve had to I don’t I don’t think they’re operating as a chariot anymore um they’ve done they do such amazing work guy that run it was a chat called Richard cullin Dr Richard Cullen um who found that being underwater and this plays into the hand

Of sport as a tool anyway but being underwater regardless of your limitations whether you can’t move below the waist or whatever or if you’ve got limbs missing you’re equal and I think that’s the beauty of sport in general it’s jumping ahead now but um you’re in a near weightless environment there is

There are no barriers I had to ad and I think that’s the important thing as well is like you you can adapt so much in life but you have to adapt to the world as well like if you expect the world to adapt to you you’re going to be very

Very very disenfranchised MH and if you and this is probably going to come out really badly but people that have that mindset I haven’t got the time of day for I really haven’t like until they come to that decision they go I need to

Do this I need to do x y and Zed to not get by in life but to get a little bit do you know what I mean rather than expecting the world to come to you yeah and so I did I did that and then um I

Found myself learning to Wing walk uh not learning to I gave it a go um that led to learning to fly a plane didn’t get a license um imagine me flying a plane but um commercially I’ll come out of cockpit no passengers yeah but um through doing all

Of this and saying yes to various things there’s there’s there’s more to the decision I was listened into an audio book and it is Richard Branson’s audio book um losing my virginity how he came up with Virgin and um that’s a good name yeah and so quoting it I’ve never forgotten

This there is nothing more expensive in life than a missed opportunity really isn’t um and after the plane this is this this is two this is the back of 2014 now um there was an opportunity came around to go through the selection process of becoming part of a fourman crew of the

World’s first all disabled crew to row unsupported across Atlantic Ocean I do nothing about rowing um and I I’ll give it a go like it’s a string to the bow it’s a chapter to the book proverbial book um we give it go see how far we get

And it was a year it was a it was a whole year and I let myself to the process uh I think there about 20 of us 30 I can’t remember how many it was a few of us and um I was the only upper Lim MP um everyone else was like below

Above NE UTS and over the course of the year you know I was you know the group got progressively smaller and um I made it to the final five of which four were chosen and I was number five um I I I did the final selection with three of

The selected four crew and there was a little bit of arrogance about it I’ve definitely got this you know um know I got the phone call I just said yeah um thank you for everything you’ve done um we’re going to go with some someone else I wasn’t

Disheartened about it at all um and there’s a reason for that but I put the phone down and I went why need something else to do I had a bike and I had the it was it was an entry level Scott speeder which was given to me um by by by

Helpful Heroes and um I went give cycl to go and that was it but the thing that I got out of the row was ultimately I got to see what I’m capable of in spite of my own limitations and in spite of and there were plenty of them

Naysayers you know people trying to sh on your dreams and stuff and I carried on with it in spite of that and so when I got into cycling and I did a ride across France having never watched the tour to France in my life before and

Every time I’ve been to France was in a car or a bus it was always flat pan flat You Can See For Miles so when they said it was red with help of Heroes I’m doing I’m doing the ride again in June actually but um as an ambassador but um

I did I got to France thinking oh yeah it’s going to be brilliant started in Belgium finished in the done right it’s going to be flat it’s going to be nice and easy literally first day I don’t know how many Hills we did I turn around going who the hell planned this route

Out like because they’re having a laugh it’s probably worth saying as well I remember I was listening to another past podcast you on where you were talking about hills and one of the things people might not realize is you really need two arms to be able to support yourself when

You’re outside sorry when you’re up off the saddle up a hill so really you you aren’t able to get out of the saddle when you’re up a hill you have to yeah so I I can’t stand up and cycle yeah at all only if I’m not pedling ah of course

Yeah yeah yeah um so I I can Freewheel and stand up you know bit of rest bite um the thing I got from the row about not giving up right every Hill I came to then and now and during I I never got off and walked my attitude

Was there’ll be a nice view at the top of this hill if I can get off and walk because it got a little bit hard I wouldn’t have earned it I would I wouldn’t have earned the The View I wouldn’t have earned you know the feeling of success if you like which is

A very kind of polarized way of looking at it but again this is how I moate my motivate myself um and so I I I didn’t I I never got off and walked once I probably got off and stopped and then got back on um

But when I got to veran and it was a French wargrave memorial for World War I um in veran the sense of achievement I got out of it it was two rides um I did the London night ride literally the day before France started which was bad

Planning on my part but the sense of achievement I got I went I’m going to be a cyclist what can I do in cycling I something to write him about and i’ missed the en catchment deadline for the Invictus games of 2017 so I just went and this is 2016

This ride so it was the following year so I went Invictus gam is 2018 let’s go for those that don’t know can you explain what the Invictus games are the Invictus games um for the uninitiated uh the best way to describe it is like a par Olympic style event um

Set up by Prince William um Prince Harry sorry for members of the military and the veteran Community um and its sole purpose is uh to give people a sense of purpose a sense of belonging you know to a community represent their country on an international level um I guess in a way

It’s it’s part of a recovery Journey if you’re turning up just to win medals and that’s it you know you’re you’re in you’re in you’re in the wrong game because you’re competing against people who are have their own motivation for doing it if that’s what you want well then go to the

Professional routs and do it you know apply for the par Olympics I had moved into my flat and Balon at this point um I had this had this this scot Speedster entry level road bike um and yeah rent was paid every month and my bills I had no money

For fancy bits I mean the kit I used to buy was cheap and cheerful fins on Amazon um like 30 quid for a pair of shorts and a jersey and it looked like it when it arrived as well but I I I had no I mean luxury to me was being able to

Afford a pair of you know other branded bib shorts of wellknown companies yeah and your turbo as well you turbo trainer yeah so um I was alluded to a minute ago about saying having the kicker when I first started I had a wheel on uh turbo trainer which I managed to

Haggle for a Fiverr um that if it broke I I had to and it did break through wearing’s hair I had to um I had to Le how to fix it I had to YouTube and Google and all sorts and it’s not the easiest things to find

I couldn’t even afford a zift membership which is £1 13 a month that was a luxury that I couldn’t afford so I figured you know what and this just goes back to the controllables what you can control what you can’t control well I can’t control LA

Swift but I pay for my internet every month YouTube and Google are free and that’s how I found a gcn they had indoor training videos and so I would ride along I didn’t have power Meer or anything so I figured if it was a high power number well I put into the hard

The skier and then ride until I can’t breathe anymore um and I used to use Richmond Park was my local park in balam and that was my indicator of Fitness I used to there’s there’s a segment in Richmond Park called tall D Richman Park yeah and I think the record for it

Stands at like 13 minutes is that is that for a lap a lap yeah and and every week I used to go to Richmond Park um on a Saturday or a Sunday and I go around it and I I do a lap and you know I’ve not I’ve not looked at my

Straa but I think the quickest I’ve ever done it and this is po this is more recently before I left London was something like just under seven just the 17 minutes or just over one of the two um when I started it was like 30 minutes yeah and every week I

Used to better my time and so that’s what I would do it’s like well that works we’ll keep doing that then and it was the victus games for 2018 was a 2-year process and I threw myself into this this this this I just used to copy the pros what

Are they eating well I’ll eat the same what I lived on chicken broccoli and rice for like two years pretty much because I saw bodybuilders were eating and whatnot and I lost a lot of weight and I got better and better at cycling you know and over the course of that

Time um I yeah I I I I found myself in Sydney you know on the start line for the Invictus games time trial and the Criterium so yeah and it was really that was it wasn’t about I didn’t go to win medals they would have been nice I didn’t win any

Um it was a m it was two fundamental factors for me was can I do it and uh it was like a Line in the Sand between that part of the military part of my life like closing that chapter and and moving on with my life so you did a ride across

America the race yeah so that was that was after the game so the game’s finished in 2018 and I need another goal I had a go I I wanted I was trying to go down the team GB route for the par Paras cycling so I got classified so I’m a C5 what

Does that mean c FES um when you look at Paras Sports um they’re categorized into numbers a cycling is C and then there’s there’s five levels five being the least impairment one being the most right um and you can you can you can see what you like about the system there’s nothing

Better than it um if you had a category for every single nook and cranny You’ need longer than a week to host the games yeah yeah yeah so um yeah when I got to a C5 and I was really pumped about being C5 as I went to Derby you

Know did it with British cycling got the C5 and I had a few friends he said uh he said how are you C5 well that’s what they told me I’m I’m not going to argue with it I don’t know but they went but you can’t use a

Prosthetic arm and you can’t stand up so you’re literally at a detriment to other C5 cyclists that’s what they’re giving me I’m not going to argue with it and yeah I am I I can’t you know I’ve just got the one working arm and hand so standing up is out for me

But it is what it is but um so I had the goal of Team GB uh and that’s that’s on a four-year cycle so then I needed something else as well and I’d heard about I’d heard about Race Across America um and an opportunity came around probably

In TW in in the in the early part of 2019 oh 2019 um I was I ended up getting put in touch with Charity I’m a beneficiary of actually blesma the British Lix servic Association and um would I be interested in in being part of a

Team and they were going for Race Across America 2020 which presumably didn’t happen due to co because of what because of Co what’s that you actually had me I know I was like is it my accent ah Zen back in the room yeah oh no um uh yeah 2020

Obviously didn’t happen because of the pandemic um so I figured that it was floated to go for 2021 um so I was like right okay well I now got a year to train train and then obviously travel restrictions so 2021 became 2022 Ram 22 so I was just like it

Was two years to train two years to train you can take the worst cyclist you can find and in two years make them into something pretty good so that’s that’s what I did did race cross America that was amazing we didn’t finish officially there are various factors that play for

That um you know within the first 12 hours our RV was written off before the first time station um so we had a we an eight-man team is only ever one cyclist on the road at any one time so the team spit into two pods and the two pods

Pepper Pot across the country within the pods each cyclist is pepper poting across during their during their shift if you like um within the first 12 hours our t Team RV which is our living quarters so for the team that weren’t on were were were admin in you know you

Know um cleaning and stuff and maintenance eating sleeping P ready for their turn that was written off in in the desert of Baro Springs uh the Arizona desert um it had had a blowout the co it was a coach it had a blowout and and the tire ripped off of the fuel

Tank so 45 gallons of diesel leaked out into the desert floor oops so that was written off we then lost our team captain uh he he hit a uh a rumble strip through off I think he doing about 40ks an hour um and getting airlifted to San

Diego and where he spent the next four weeks and so I then became team captain um because of that and so you so we we we’ hemr quite a bit of time trying to replan um replan replan the race um it ended up being a day and a half or

Together um but uh you kind I think as a team captain I to take away my my personal motivations wanting to get to the end and what not cuz I’ve now got bigger things to think about which is the team and each individual member of the team

Um and I yeah it when you’re put into a lead this is why I’ve always said being in a in a position of leadership is a privilege it is a privilege you know you get it because you’ve got the right you’ve got the right kind of values to

Do it if you’re going there because you want to throw your weight around get out it’s not for you um and so yeah it was it was a case of ensuring that everyone had a had a had a had had a good experience you know so that was Race Across America

What are you training for now so I’m I’m training for um I’m dipping my toe into the world of ultra endurance and supported racing so it’s uh it’s called via um via hannabis it is a race which tra which traces the route of uh Hannibal uh who

Was a carag I can’t pronounce it carthaginian it’s not even a right don’t quote me on it it was a general Roman in the Roman time a podcast you get quoted um so who who marched his army of 38 elephants and his Army to Rome um from Southern Iberia to Rome I’m I’m

Going to guess so based on that I would guess that that’s probably about 4,000 kilm yeah how did you know that I’m just really good at geography it’s my thing before we came to do you have to approach it differently to someone that has two arms so the beauty of a this organization

Having never been or never done or or entertained the world of ultra endurance unsupported events is the organizers um a guy called Ian toe and his partner inorg they’ve made a point of making this open open categories so uh Paras cyclists gender all of it there’s no

Barriers there’s going to be things that I can and can’t do but what those or or or do things differently I mean the obvious one is I can’t stand up and cycle so other than that I don’t know I’m just going to have to find out as I go um

And I think you can overthink things until you’re in a situation where you have to do them I’ve got I’ve got a good coach I’ve got a coach who’s also a a very successful uh who’s riding it as well he’s doing the ride as well but

Neil Copeland his name is and uh so he’s he’s a wealth of knowledge i i rate that so you’re basically just going to throw yourself into it and discover the challenges along the way and work work your way around them yeah pretty much yeah that’s it that’s it um I don’t know

If I’m going to enjoy it I don’t know if I’m going to do Post carry it on I don’t know but yeah it’s it’s I’m interested I’m interested to find out and this is what I mean about saying yes to opportunities I don’t know if I’ll be good at it I’m

Just doing it to finish it I don’t care if I come last middle of the field I’m certainly not coming you know top 10 but I think for me it’s about I love to show that limitations aren’t limiting you haven’t got to be disabled to know what

A limitation is but I guess it’s a way I motivate myself so you ride bikes yeah you got one arm yeah some people are going to want know how you do that have you got an adapted bike what do you have to do differently with riding that to someone that has two

Arms CU presumably you’ve got one control yeah yeah got one Control Function functionally and aesthetically there’s not like one for for show yeah yeah so I so my f my the bike I did the games and the rest Amer on before it was stolen um was a cell S3 Rim bra bike

20183 and um and all the adaption on that was it was it was Shimano di2 full Synchro do you know what full Synchro is is that where it changes front and back yeah dependent on where the chain is on the cassette yeah so you just go you

Press up and it knows whether it needs to change what point to change the front Mac yeah so you have some autonomy of your gearing um and you can program it in but um yeah it’s a semi-automatic car basically um and then the rim brake was

Um the the brakes were it was a device called of all things I’ve always found it quite funny actually got a problem solver so yeah I had that and it’s basically it’s a a one in one in two out so you’ve got a cable goes from the

Lever M into the device have wrapped up into the B tape and then two came out and it sounds a lot more complex than it actually is it pulls the back break fractionally quicker in the front yeah but that’s a all to do with how you’ve

Got the the adjuster set up on the the on the calipers um but I never kind of looked at upgrading the bike until it was stolen um because I didn’t think there was anything for hydraulic disc adaptions um evidently there is so when it was when when the bike was stolen um

Pearsons got in touch so Pearsons are the oldest family run uh bike bike manufacturer in the world 1860 and presumably pretty close to where you live not anymore lived they Liv yeah so they’re basic in Sheen yeah when I Shar that my bike had been stolen I put it on

My store it had blown up like literally it went viral um and um through that through that uh Pearson’s got in touch will from Pearson’s got in touch and he was just like I don’t want to jump in your bites grave he said but we’d love

To put something you my bike was insured with lacer as well uh if you’re going to get into cycl and get insurance and I saw I I partnered laca up with Pearsons laca paid what I had my bike ured for and um anything outside of that

Pe’s you know covered um and so I got a nice new PE shift which is if anyone knows the brand um it was the kind of the readers sign of their M go to 11 aor road bike and through that they also pulled in uh classified uh okay the shifting company

Yeah based out Belgium so it changes via the Hub and underload it’s basically a planetary gear yeah they take the rear deria get rid of it and put it into the rear hub um but it’s I mean the whole thing the Hub weighs as much as a front the rad so it

Cancels itself out MH um and it’s it’s just for it just means as well I have full autonomy over my entire gearing um and the the break adaptions so it’s a company called outbreaker Tech who have designed this thing uh this this this this thing um as a splitter basic

Hydraulic splitter um designed specifically for Paras cyclists um to give me hydraulic disc breaks so now I can I can stop effectively in the rain do you know what like that’s something that gets on my nerves like these people that know oh no disc breaks [ __ ] shut up agreed you got nothing else

To write about on social media I’ll find some oh windbreaks are the best are they or just stoping distance in the rain on your carbon wheels oh just buy it’s cheap to buy dis bike yeah once you ride disc breakes it’s a choice to go back isn’t it yeah

So how do you keep yourself motivated because you’ve had lots of challenges to overcome and you’ve done a hell of a lot of things in your life what keeps you motivated what keeps you going what keeps you wanting to do more events I said years ago years and years ago that

One day I’m going to die I one day it’s the only guarantee we’ve all got in like the only guarantee any one of us has got in life is that one day we’ll die but we don’t know how or when that will happen when I get put into my coffin I’m going in

Sideways Kicking and Screaming what a ride people say life is short I don’t think it is I think life is not sure time is I think it’s for night absolutely and I think if you can fit as much as you humanly physically can to

Make to to make every day as as as as entertaining as you possibly can whether you laugh at yourself or not absolutely and so I just think that when I’m kind of old and decrepit sat on my rocking chair with my wife in front of in front of the fire talking

About we do this now anyway I was going you basically describing me on a weekend yeah my wife she’s been through her own struggles before we met and and we talk about how we got through various stages I want to get to that point when I’m like in my 90s old and

Decrepit yeah and laugh and joke about some of the things I got up to in my 30s in my 40s in my 50s and my 60s and so on because I think when we talk about the stuff we’ve done you know in our teens and in our 20s we still laugh about it

Now and I think that’s what I look forward to but the selft talk I’ve got is you know and everyone has it where they’re going to say you’re not very good what are you doing this for what you doing that for the voice telling you that you can’t do

Something it’s a why swore then it’s a liar you can do anything to set your mind to you really can someone does involve breaking the law but like um or or you know or sh on someone from a great height kind of thing but you’ll always have a million reasons of why you

Shouldn’t do something but there’s always one reason why you should go with that that’s my well I should do via race because as a Paras cyclist I can show to people what’s cap what what what’s what’s achievable in spite of limitations and like I said earlier you ever got to have

A disability lose a limb be paralyzed or whatever the case may be to know what a limitation is and that’s what motivates me I’m about helping other people inspiring other people to do things that they don’t think they can what I think is a really interesting thing about you is

Not only that you are motivated but you are clearly not afraid of failure or rejection and I think some people struggle with motivation but I think some people don’t want to start something because they are afraid of a no or afraid of not finishing yeah how

Have you that clear it doesn’t feel like that’s something that affects you how do you deal with that this goes back to the row I could have I could have given up if I wanted to but then what have I learned about myself so I think

NE you can fa feel good equally you can fail really badly failing badly because you got a bit hard at the first hurdle and then like throwing your hands up in a oh I’m going to bother um equally you can fail trying your absolute

Best and I think it’s in it’s in it’s in the good failures where you’ll learn more about yourself and so I think never be afraid of failing ever because you can’t expect to get something wrong right having never tried something before there’s more to learn in Failure

Than there is in success in success all you all you know is what went well and it’s like if you apply that next time around as well you may or may not win the next time around so I think failing is a humbling thing to go

Through equally it’s a good thing to go through and I think it’s what you achieve at the end of it does that sound like absolute rubbish sorry no no all no it doesn’t at all I love how you sensor myself yeah sorry there’s also for anyone interested

A really good podcast series called how to fail um is there by a lady called Elizabeth Day who’s a journalist and she basically interviews celebrities um authors Lords of different people and she talks about their three biggest failures in life and ultimately the failure might be I didn’t

Get on the rowing team but actually the story is about what an amazing experience it that was and how they grew as a person because of that in quotes failure someone else might see it as a failure but actually it was a massive positive for them so that’s a really

Good podcast series to check out if you’re interested in that how to fail how to fail with Elizabeth day it’s called yeah I I have I’ve upset people quite a few times because I talk quite regularly about not finishing something doesn’t have to be a negative

Thing so if you do an event and you end up pulling it out I don’t see that as a negative as long as you know you are able to be constructive with it yeah um and I guess it’s ultimately intentionally trying to remind people that you don’t always

Have to be perfect you don’t always have to be on your aame you don’t always have to finish everything that you do but that doesn’t mean you can’t grow and you can’t like get better as as things on but also you don’t have to always grow

Um which is I I like hearing your side of the story as well because it’s very different to how I approach things or how I have ended up approaching things yeah cuz I’ve definitely been the opposite in my life as well where I have absolutely destroyed myself because I

Refus to finish things I did an ultramarathon around the Bracken beacons um and nearly I did end up finishing that because I physically couldn’t walk any further and I got pulled out of it and I thought I was going to be air lifted off the side of a

Mountain thankfully I wasn’t um but that was the point where I refused I was so focused on the failure isn’t an option that I I took it too far and as a result of that I’m now the exact opposite and it upsets some people because I say a

Dnf is fine there’s no problem with the dnf um you are a very positive person thank you uh and and presumably there are still low points and there are points where you don’t want to continue so how how do you deal with them how how do you come

Out the other side still being positive when you know stuff doesn’t work you know like like a great example is the ride across America and the the RV gets taken out that’s like it’s very easy in that scenario to go well we don’t have a mode of Transport so we’ll just wind it

Up let’s that’s that that over with yeah end up being a bit of an adventure really that that whole thing it went from being a race to an Adventure I everyone took something from that everyone everyone grew in confidence and their abilities and so on um but yeah

For me it was a very bitter pill to swallow because I personally I had trained hard for that I knew what was coming up I researched the event as well I mean the clues in the name the world’s toughest bicycle race so you know cluing the name for

That equally there were members of the team that hadn’t trained at all if enough um and yeah I stayed positive that I had to I became the team captain it wasn’t about me anymore it was about the other people and so in a way yeah has I think I’ve

Worked it out you evolve your objectives yes yes that’s the perfect way that that you allow the the actual goal to change and therefore it doesn’t become destructive yeah do you know what I’ve never I’ve never that I’m going to remember that I evolve what’s it I evolve the

Outcomes evolve the objectives evolve the objectives yeah no no absolutely the the by the Yeah ultimately the goal is what’s changing you’re allowing that to adapt which means that you’re not creating a scenario which is bad and I think a lot of not a lot of the time I

Think in some scenarios people get into things and they set goals that mean that they do bad things to themselves or or or whatever in whatever capacity whether they just go too far they create a dangerous situation um whereas being able to adapt the goal for example you

Might be fit enough to Podium event but if in an event something goes wrong I would imagine you go well now I’m happy just finishing it and then if there’s a scenario where you can’t finish it you’re probably like well and now I’m happy as long as I achieve I Inspire

Someone off the back of it that I feel I feel like that’s what you do in these scenarios but I also don’t think you’ve not finished something yet no I haven’t I haven’t no I’d be interested to have a chat with you after the Via

Race uh cuz it’s there’s a lot that can go wrong in those races and there’s a lot of people which do end up dnfing and obviously I don’t want you to dnf yeah but it’ll be really interesting cuz inevitably the more events you do the higher the chances are there’s going to

Be something that you can’t overcome in terms of you actually finishing the the event it’s like the stuff outside of your control exactly yeah yeah yeah I I’m I’m interested to see how you end up dealing with those situations and I think you’ll deal with it really really

Well yeah I’ve I’ve got a good way of looking at things and uh like I I’m I’m I’m I’m the voice of reason at home me and my wife we’re each other’s voice of reasons MH um she’s even said like I just love how you stay so calm in in in

Situations like you know it’s um you just got to weigh it up haven’t you like okay well this bit sorry this bit is not very good I know I’m I’m sorry I’m sorry yeah don’t swear kids will wash your mouth out with soap um um can’t do that anymore can

You um but um you sounded like my nun for a minute happened to me once um Jesus and um I think when something when the chips are down but what chips aren’t down let’s let’s deal with them let’s use them ones um so yeah I mean don’t get me

Wrong I have good days I have bad days my my life is no bigger or better than anyone else because I’ve got one arm and I’m dealing with life of one arm um when people tell me that I’m inspirational and this is something I’ve got disability Community will probably murder me for

This but there’s a thing within the disabled Community where people don’t like being called inspirational and that’s fair enough but but but it gets really hammered home the thing is that comes from a place of love that comes from a place of positivity if if if some if you’re doing nor noral

Things but just getting on with life and smashing through it in spite of what’s wrong with in spite of the limitations you’ve got right if someone takes inspiration from that who might be you know feeling really bad about themselves and might need that pickup why is it a bad thing someone

Tells me I’m inspirational I appreciate the compliment and that’s that’s is exactly what it is but yeah I’m I’m I’m I hear it a lot like I’m not your inspir I’m not I’m not your inspo PA all right it is it goes without saying that I am so confident that you’ve

Inspired tons and tons of people uh you definitely have inspired me because you constantly post stories of you on the turbo and I’m like fine I’ll get on the turbo then as well um so thank you very much for sharing your story um and I very much

Look forward to seeing how you get on with your race later this year and if you do if you do happen to not achieve it and you end up dnfing I also want to have a chat with you about that yeah no absolutely no it’s been CLE no no it’s

It’s been good to meet you guys actually come along and Gob off in it uh how many how many batteries have you been through on your camera yeah this this may be the longest podcast we ever put out oh but um I think it’ll be a very worthwhile it’s worth the uh the

Watch time absolutely I hope it’s worth a m train that you’ve now uh missed but we will uh we’ll get you home we promise so that’s all for this week but before we go our next two guests on the podcast are bike mechanic Nick and cycling coach James and we want a bunch

Of questions to ask them so you already know Nick by now but James is an elite cyclist a professional cycling coach and has a special interest in sports psychology and motivation so send us any questions for Nick and James to Wild Ones podcast at Cav media. co.uk thank

You for listening and thanks to Dan for sharing his story thank you very much if you enjoyed this episode leave a a five star review on Spotify Apple music Amazon thingy Miggy whatever it’s called and wherever else you listen it helps us grow the podcast and if you’re watching

Leave us a like don’t forget to subscribe so you do not miss out on the next episode thank you very much and goodbye bye bye