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2012 Paralympics cyclist Jon-Allan Butterworth

Paralympics cycling hopeful Jon-Allan Butterworth didn't actually learn how to ride a bike until he was a teenager.

Even then, it would take another 10 years - and a horrific warzone attack that resulted in his arm being amputated - for Butterworth to discover he had an incredible gift for cycling.

Paralympics 2012 and cycling

Butterworth was always sporty but never really excelled in any sport. "I saw myself as above average at most sports, but never really mastered any of them," he says. "I would play rugby and football in the winter and a bit of cricket in the summer.

Despite being bright, Butterworth was never comfortable in a school environment. It was his desire to get out into the world that prompted him to join the RAF, getting a job as a weapons technician. "I went into the school careers office, saw some posters for the RAF and thought, 'That sounds good'," he recalls. "As soon as I started in the job, I loved it. It's not a conventional job with set patterns and routines. It requires you to think outside the box."

As a weapons technician, he was servicing small weapons, such as pistols, rifles and guns and larger weapons, such as preparing Harrier military jets to go to Afghanistan.

Paralympic cyclist Jon-Allan Butterworth

In 2007 Butterworth was sent to Iraq but, after just 11 weeks in the country, his base at Basra was attacked by insurgents. Once shell exploded 7-10 meters away from Butterworth and the shrapnel caused major arterial bleeding in his left arm. His arm had to be amputated below the elbow to save his life but later, following an infection, he underwent revision surgery to take the amputation just above the elbow.

Butterworth underwent three months of rehabilitation, during which he was given lessons on how to use his prosthetic limb - a simple-to-use metal hook that opens and closes. However, it was day-to-day practise he relied on to get his arm moving fluently. "It's like problem-solving," he says. "You think, 'I'm not going to be able to pick this up the way I used to - so how am I going to do it?'"

Cycling in London 2012: Jon-Allan Butterworth

Butterworth returned to RAF Cottesmore, in Rutland, where he was invited to a Paralympics GB Talent Day in Loughborough by an organisation called Battle Back.

He wasn't quite sure what the event entailed, so turned up wearing casual clothes and fashionable trainers, expecting to see some kind of presentation.

Instead, he was put through his paces in a range of different sports, including long jump, running, shooting and shot put.