‘I've Been Through Hell - But Cycling Saved Me!'

The horrors of war left Dave Bickel mentally scarred and teetering on the brink – until the day he discovered the simple joy of riding a bike…

- David Kenning

In 2010, Dave Bickel reached a crisis point.Caught in a self-destructive spiral of drinking and weight gain, his physical and mental health were in tatters. Furthermore, as he struggled to cope, his relationship with his wife and three kids was deteriorating. He couldn’t go on like this.

His problems had been years in the making. Now managing health and safety for a construction firm, Dave formerly spent 23 years in the Army. ‘I was 18 when I joined the Royal Engineers in November 1983,’ Dave tells us. ‘I was primarily in bomb disposal but finished off in an air assault unit in 2005. I’ve seen active service in many countries including the Falklands, Bosnia, Kosovo, the Gulf…’ But it wasn’t until after his retirement in 2006 that the horrors he had seen really started to haunt him. ‘A few years after leaving the Army, I started getting anxiety attacks, and getting angry with myself and with my family. I was drinking a lot, too. That’s when I was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).’