• Make the most of the sunny days. If we’re lucky, there are still plenty of weeks left of reasonably warm weather before autumn takes hold and lots of sunny early evenings to enjoy before the clocks go back. Try to prioritise your cycling if the weather’s really glorious – even if it’s just a couple of hours one evening, or half a day at the weekend. Every mile counts, and you’ll give yourself some happy memories to cling to once winter’s got its claws into us. While your training might start in earnest in the New Year, you can get yourself ahead of the game now just by having fun riding your bike.
  
  
• Find some riding buddies. Riding with (or against) other people is one of the biggest motivators. It’s so much harder to hit the snooze on a cold grey November morning when you know someone’ll be waiting for you out in the cold. And a little healthy competition can go a long way. Either seek out your local cycling club, or join an online platform like Strava (we’ve got our own Le Loop club on Strava – check it out).
  
  
• Plan ahead. If you haven’t found our Training Advice page yet, you can check it out here.

  Also look into the sportives and audax rides over the next 12 months and think about scheduling these into your training diary. These will function as stepping stones, and help keep you on track towards the main event of Le Loop. It’s much easier to focus on a ride that’s only a few weeks off than one that’s still over six months away, and riding a few back-to-back 200kms will help you identify any weak points while there’s still time to work on them.

• Start thinking about your bike and kit. You don’t want to start Le Loop with an unfamiliar saddle, a brand new bike, or a pair of shoes you haven’t broken in yet. On your next few rides, think about which elements of your set-up aren’t quite there yet. Are any of your clothes uncomfortable. Do you have any twinges in your knees, or hands, or back, that could flare up and jeopardise your ride? Now’s the time to experiment – book a bike fit or a physio appointment, try a few different saddle/chamois combinations, figure out where your weaknesses lie, and start putting things in place to make sure neither your body nor your bike lets you down when it really matters.
  
  
• Nurture your connections with loved ones. You can expect Le Loop to be a very big theme in your life over the next year (particularly for the Grand and Half Loopers). This means that they may have to put up with seeing less of you next year, as you try to balance your training for Le Loop with all the other demands of a busy life. Now’s the time to invest in relationships, to put down the groundwork for the cycling-focussed year you have ahead of you, and to figure out where everyone’s boundaries lie. If it turns out your family aren’t happy with you disappearing for half of every weekend to ride your bike, it’s better to work out the necessary compromises as early as possible.

And above all, make sure you carry on enjoying the ride. There’s no point following a carefully tailored training plan if following instructions just makes you feel miserable. There are countless pathways to long distance back-to-back cycling, and riders will set out on Le Loop from all sorts of different backgrounds. If you’re riding hard, riding frequently, and feeling fit, then don’t worry about how everyone else might be doing it. You’ll get there in your own way, and we’ll be honoured to share the journey with you.

Vive Le Tour!