"Pain is my operating environment, not my enemy."
David Bainbridge, Ultra-endurance athlete. Adaptive cyclist. 58 years old. Classical Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. 19+ years in a wheelchair. Still riding.
THE REAL STORY
I Shouldn't Be Here. I Am.
For most of my adult life, I was told what I couldn't do. By doctors, by specialists, by a body with 343,000 lifetime dislocations and a pharmacological profile that should have killed me.
I spent over two decades in a wheelchair. I was surviving on an escalating stack of opiates fentanyl, methadone, morphine, OxyContin, at doses that kept me near-comatose around the clock. In 2019, I faced a binary choice: stop all of it, or don't make it to the following year.
The detox took 256 days. No shortcuts. Reducing 10% at a time, with continuous withdrawal symptoms that I can only describe as cold turkey from heroin, stretched across eight months. I lost eight stone in nine months. I came out the other side with better pain control than I had on the strongest medications medicine could prescribe.
I can't take oral medication. My gut doesn't absorb nutrients reliably. I manage one of the most complex multi-system physiological profiles in endurance sport, Classical Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, dysautonomia, CRPS, gastroparesis, structural baroreflex failure, coronary heart disease, and narcolepsy among them and I ride anyway. Not despite the pain. Within it.
In under two years at 58 years old, I took my VO2 max from 30 to 55. My resting blood pressure from 198/141 to 108/61.
The medical system failed me for decades. Cycling didn't.
HOW I RIDE
Not Willpower. Architecture.
What I've built isn't a mindset. It's a system.
I call it Prosthetic Physiology, a six-component framework that replaces the autonomic functions my body can no longer perform reliably. Cognitive anticipation substitutes for reflexes. Continuous motion acts as a circulatory pump. Precision timing governs nutrition, effort, and recovery. Data replaces the symptom signals I don't receive.
This is not about pushing through. It's about engineering around the gaps.
ADVENTURES
The Rides
I clocked 1,800 miles in 2023 alone. I'd was able to ride the year before that.
Race the Ship — September 2023 197 miles, Great Yarmouth to London. Mixed-ability team vs tall ship SV Tenacious. Human-powered. No excuses.
Wheels for Tenacious — October 2024 92 miles, Barry to Gloucester Quays. Coast-to-coast in three days with an inclusive mixed-ability crew, finishing where Adventureman Jamie McDonald set his static bike world record.
Pulling Together Up Snowdon — 2022 Wheelchair. 3,560 feet of ascent. Tore my rotator cuff on the way up. Raised £20,100. Still made it.
Dunwich Dynamo Plus — Solo, unsupported 148.25 miles through the night. HRV of 17ms at the start. Rebounded to 65ms within 72 hours. The data doesn't lie.
Chase the Sun, BHF London to Brighton, RideLondon 100, Cambridgeshire Classic and more →
Coming 2026: London~Wales~London AUDAX — 407km, targeting 20 hours, May 2026. Yorkshire Divide Source to Sea — 450 miles, 30,000ft climbing, 138-hour limit. In 2025 it had no finishers with chronic illness. That changes in May 2026.
WHEELS FOR TENACIOUS
Inclusive Endurance. Not a Compromise.
Wheels for Tenacious is the inclusive endurance initiative I founded and lead. Mixed-ability teams. Real distances. No performance gap between disabled and non-disabled riders — just the same road, the same challenge, the same finish line.
RideTogether 200 is our flagship event: a coast-to-coast UK ultra-endurance cycling challenge built around genuine inclusion, not tokenism.
[Learn more at wheelsfortenacious.org.uk →]
CONTACT
If you want to talk about speaking, media, inclusive events, or the Prosthetic Physiology framework, get in touch.
My Cycling Adventures
For context: At the time I came up with the idea for 'Race the Ship' on 25th September 2022. It was and had been physically impossible for me to ride a bike for over a decade and it's extremely painful. Since then I have undertaken many more endurance rides, clocking up a whopping 1800 miles in 2023.
Living with significant physical and mental conditions means every day is a challenge. Using a wheelchair is a part of my reality, but it doesn't define my spirit. When I decided to fundraise, I knew it wouldn't be easy – in fact, it would likely bring additional pain, fatigue, and discomfort. But I believe in showing the world that even with limitations, we can achieve extraordinary things.
After 'Pulling Together Up Snowdon', I craved an even bolder test – one focused on a mixed-ability team working as equals to conquer the seemingly impossible. That's how the idea for 'Race the Ship' was born.
We'd race the Tall Ship Tenacious 197 miles from Great Yarmouth to London. This was no easy feat, especially for someone like me who hadn't cycled in a decade due to my conditions. We'd use any human-powered means (plus electric pedal assist when needed), proving that teamwork and inclusivity can conquer any challenge.
Choosing to undertake this ride was like knowingly opening Pandora's box of discomfort and pain, fully aware of the severity of the consequences. The ride was not simply a feat of physical endurance but a test of the mental resilience to deal with the repercussions of every decision made.
Finished in 4 hours 45 minutes
Horrible weather, freezing cold, heavy rain, horrible headwind and lots and lots of standing water and just to add to the fun horrific sciatic nerve pain 20 miles from end after right hip subluxation (Too cold = Spasm's) didn't go back in cleanly
Definitely earnt my stripes on this ride!
I've experienced first hand the transformative power of support, love, and understanding in shaping a child's life. That's why I'm dedicating my sweat, determination, and passion to support Become—the leading charity for children in care and young care leavers in the UK
Chase the Sun is a non-competitive ride, open to all — with no rules, route signs, timing or medals. It is an annual physical, motivational and navigational challenge, with the goal of riding your bike from sunrise to sunset on the longest day!
BHF London to Bridghton 2024
Finished in 4 hours 14 minutes
Continued to Shoreham and up the Down's Link to Christs Hospital riding 76.3 miles in 6 hours 33 minutes with just brief stops for toilet breaks.
Round the Harbours
Graham Strudwick and I completed the ride despite the 35mph headwind most of the way around.
BHF London to Brighton Off-Road
I thought it would be a blast to tackle both the road ride in June and the off-road one in September! The forecast promised dry weather, but surprise! It was a mud fest! Honestly, it was the toughest, most challenging ride I've ever conquered. Those first 30 miles were brutal, even harder than RideLondon. Riding with a torn rotator cuff? Definitely made things interesting (and painful!), especially with all the bumps and pounding on the descents, crashing into the hedge on the final descent and landing on said shoulder was not a highlight. So proud of myself for completing it.
Bikepacking Marriots Way and Bure Valley
A mixed-ability team of cyclists embarked on an inspiring journey from October 11-13, 2024, cycling 92 miles from the tall ship S.V. Lord Nelson (Nellie) in Barry to the tall ship S.V. Tenacious in Sharpness, finishing at Gloucester Quays, the location of Jamie McDonald’s (aka Adventureman) static bike non-stop world record in 2012.