Tricycle Rider Michael Davis Follows Faith Into Remarkable Para-Cycling Journey

The days begin at 4 in the morning.

On a late winter’s day, it’s another two or three hours before the sun peeks over the Southern California mountain ranges and hits Canyon Lake. No matter. Michael Davis, a former member of a U.S. Navy Special Forces unit and now a tricycle rider attempting to make his first U.S. Paralympic team, hits his training bike for the first of three daily workouts.

Soon, he won’t remember a thing.

A motorcycle accident in 2008 caused a traumatic brain injury that not only affects Davis’s balance, but also his short-term and long-term memory.

“I don’t remember yesterday,” he said. “I don’t remember earlier today. I know I went riding today. I just finished. But I don’t remember it.”

After the accident, Davis said, the only two things he clearly remembered were his Social Security number and bank account number.

Davis’ remarkable Para-cycling journey has taken him to four world cup events, including to Adelaide, Australia, in January, when he won a bronze medal in the tricycle MT2 class. The medal, his first in world cup competition, sits in a closet at Davis’ home in Canyon Lake. It provides a visual memory.

Davis, 37, is driven by his faith. He rides three times a day and sleeps for maybe three hours.

“Two of my three daily rides, I don’t want to do,” he says, “but it is only because of Christ that I do it because He’s shown me numerous times that riding my trike is one of the reasons He spared me in 2008.

“That is why I start my ride 99 percent of the time and shortly after starting, He gives me reassurance by making me feel willing to push myself,” Davis added. “I say 99 percent because 1 percent of the time I actually want to.”

Two of those three daily training routines are inside; his afternoon ride is usually on the trike.

Considering his third-place finish in Adelaide, the Paralympic Games Paris 2024 are now on Davis’ radar. Also hanging in the future is the next Paralympic Games four years later in Los Angeles, which is a little more than an hour’s drive from Canyon Lake. His home in Canyon Lake sits just east of the Santa Ana Mountains.

Until his success in Adelaide — Davis finished third in the road race and fourth in the time trial — Paris was an afterthought.

“I don’t remember if I’m training more or different or what,” Davis said. “I know I’m faster than I was before I left for Adelaide. My training is going awesome. It baffles my mind that I ride over 100 miles a day. I feel up for it. I’m not sore.”

And then, there’s the home life. Davis has four children, Mikey, Molly, Maxy and Zekey, ranging in age from 5 to 10, and a wife at home. He watches the kids while his wife, Betty, is away at work. He is working on a book. He is also working on getting a medical invention registered with a patent.

This is a hectic life. Toss Paris into that mix?

“I’m kind of enthralled with my family,” Davis said. “I have four little kids at home. It’s busy, to say the least. I’m eager to get the opportunity, if I’m selected.”

Nearly 10 years had passed after the motorcycle accident until Davis began cycling competitively. After getting a trike with two front wheels that was specially built by Ti Cycles Fabrication in Portland, Oregon, and funded by the Challenged Athletes Foundation, Davis began riding in 2017. He raced in his first national championship in 2022 and made his world cup debut that same year.

He finished eighth in the time trial and 10th in the road race at last year’s World Cup Final in Huntsville, Alabama.

Among his daily training ritual, a new recovery option recommended by his coach, Los Angeles-based Rick Babington, has made a difference. Contrast baths have Davis alternating between hot water in a tub and iced water in a bathtub.

“It is amazing,” Davis said. “After my contrast bath, I am good to go.”

In the meantime, he has also secured a sponsorship with VetComm, a San Diego-based organization that helps disabled veterans.

Davis has become friends with Dennis Connors, a fellow U.S. trike rider who won a world championship in the road race MT2 last fall in Scotland and also won five medals in three 2023 world cup events.

“He’s pretty fast,” Davis said.

“I didn’t think I had a chance against him. Now maybe I can give him a ride for the money,” he added, laughing.

Paul D. Bowker has been writing about Olympic and Paralympic sports since 1996, when he was an assistant bureau chief in Atlanta. He is a freelance contributor to USParaCycling.org on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc.