A STROKE victim has told how stunned doctors with his recovery - after turning to e-cycling to boost his fitness.

Michael King, 88, from Rhosgoch, just over the border into Powys, thought his biking days were well behind him when he suffered a mini-stroke.

But after a spin on a neighbour’s e-bike - which has a battery-powered electric motor to assist with pedalling and take the sting out of hills - he was hooked.

Now he regularly clocks up tours of the Elan Valley in mid-Wales, to the delight of his cardiologist.

After his Transient Ischaemic Attack (TIA) - often called a warning or mini-stroke, Mr King regained his sight and was having regular, three-monthly check-ups with a cardiologist at Hereford Hospital.

He explained: “Not long after I began cycling, the cardiologist looked at the charts and said ‘something’s changed’. Basically, my heart health had improved. I explained I’d been riding this e-bike and he thought it was brilliant.

“He cut my check-ups to once every six months there and then. Now I’m down to once a year.”

Anna Heywood of Hay-on-Wye’s Drover Cycles, who helped Michael choose his e-bike, said: “Michael is an inspiration and proof that - thanks to e-biking - age is no barrier to enjoying the well-proven health benefits of cycling, even when you live in an area as hilly as ours.”

Drover Cycles are holding an e-bike demo day on Thursday, April 5.