A London sportsman who had to give up a promising rugby career after a 500ft snowboarding fall has joined Lawrence Dallaglio as part of his charity Cycle Slam.
Charlie Lewis, from Hampton Hill, Middlesex, had played rugby at county level but almost lost a leg during a gap year accident in Switzerland.
His mum, Ginny, told The Hounslow Chronicle: "It was a nasty accident and he spent three years with his leg in a metal frame.
"He fell 500ft and had to be helicoptered off the mountain. It became infected. He had metal implants put in - you name it, it happened to him. We waited two years for the bone to grow back and it just didn't.
"It was so bad that at one point the surgeon said to him: 'If I were you, I'd just cut it off and get on with your life'."
His rugby career over, Charlie took up cycling after he realised it put less pressure on his leg. This week, he joined former England captain Dallaglio on the tour of all of the Six Nations international rugby union stadiums, which started in Rome last week.
Mr Lewis joined the group in France on Wednesday for stage two, which is expected to take four or five days to cover the 700km from Nice to Paris.
He wants to raise £4,000 for five charities - DebRA, Cancer Research UK, Help For Heroes, The RPA Benevolent Fund and Leukaemia Research.
His mum said the family is very proud of him.
"It's good he has found an outlet for all this energy," she said. "It's going to be a real challenge, especially in this weather - during the first stage they had to cycle through thick snow - but it's going to be a real achievement. We're very, very proud of him."
* To find out more about the Dallaglio Cycle Slam, and to sponsor Mr Lewis, visit www.justgiving.com/Charlie-Lewis
Should be castration and a gulag doing hard labour for 10 years. And a BBC documentary series following his progress screened right after Top Gear,...
...
People know the law, break the law and get fined for it. Is there a problem here?
Bargain wheels, that cost more than the 3 out of 4 whole bikes listed here? This is very very far from bargain....
I do agree, you don't want to fight off someone who has a 1,5ton 200km/h sledgehammer.
There is a junction in Dartford where you can guarantee at least three cars will just go through on red. I have been moving through on green and...
You had a frame!!?!! Luxury. I started out with 4 twigs and 2 tennis balls...
If that driver still has a job after that then Sainsbury's should be held criminally liable when he inevitably kills someone...
I haven't visited the tweet about this, I suspect it would make me very angry at these people and I would not be able to avoid taking issue with...
if only they would stick to burgers, insted of getting involved in town planning.