Southport man rides Tour de France course on Chopper Published duration 1 August 2015

image caption Dave Sims took on the gruelling course with a children's bike

A man has raised more than £80,000 for charity by riding the Tour de France course on a Raleigh Chopper bike.

Personal trainer Dave Sims, 36, from Southport, Merseyside, adapted the classic children's bike to complete the gruelling challenge.

He received a message of support from the Tour winner, Chris Froome, who said he was "pretty impressed".

The 1,600-mile (2,575km) circuit is the stage for one of the most gruelling events in the sporting calendar.

'Serious chafing'

Mr Sims said it was a tough challenge and some modifications were required.

"If you've ever ridden any serious miles on a Chopper, which most people haven't, the seat was that wide that it caused serious chafing issues.

"I value my femur bone, so the seat post and the seat had to change. I've also got quite long legs and it is at the end of the day a children's bike, so I need a much longer seat post."

Mr Sims spent 117 hours on the Chopper and battled on despite suffering an injury.

"I damaged my Achilles on 9 July, ironically after the stage, going to get a pizza. It was my fault, so I damaged my Achilles and it just got worse and worse every day."

"So [organisers of the tour] Team Sky got in touch saying: 'Do you want to see our physio?' I am like, 'yes please', so they gave me some treatment and actually gave me a boost of confidence."

Mr Sims is donating the money raised to the military charity Help for Heroes.

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