Never being able to ride a cycle of any description, Dave had his interest piqued when he spotted an advertisement for an electric tricycle in the late 1990s. He discovered that a trailer retailer in Bristol (where he was working at the time) was able to supply these and went along to try one out. He was instantly hooked and ordered one immediately. It arrived a few weeks later and so started his love of cycling.
For the first few months every day (when it didn't rain) he wanted to 'cycle'. True, most of the work was done by the little electric motor rather than leg power. And days he'd forgotten to plug in the overnight charger were cursed. Once the initial novelty wore off trips out dropped to a more sensible level, about three or four times a week. This was to continue for many years, until 2004...
He doesn't really recall what possessed him to buy a handcycle. "I wanted to try some wheelchair racing and also buy a sports chair". But the guys at the US outfit he approached had plenty of advice and succeeded in selling him a handcycle as well. He went for a modest model, the Top End XLT Gold, which offered a reasonable compromise between price and speed. It is in no way competitive with the super fast, super light models on the market now, but has a decent turn of speed, though it is rather weighty.
Initially he found it hard work on the arms, despite having been a keen kayaker for many years and using crutches to walk all of his adult life. But after a few weeks was able to keep up a decent pace for long periods. He'd chatted to a couple of members of the UK Handcycling Association when deciding on which model to buy, and through them entered his first ever race, the 2005 Cyclefest at Castle Combe. This was a bit of an eye opener, with Dave coming in close to the back of the field in the 'A' Class (though to this day he's never been classified). He realised that the fast guys were the kneelers and unable to kneel wouldn't be competitive with them. So he used the handcycle for recreation and training, until his first novice triathlon in 2007, before taking up triathlon as a main competitive sport in 2008.