Neill Kemp

I’m Getting the Band Back Together

In 2013, I cycled all 21 stages of the 100th Tour de France—3,360 kilometres from Corsica to Paris, one week before the professionals.

It was the hardest, most ridiculous and most wonderful thing I had ever done.

Fourteen years later, apparently having forgotten the first of those descriptions, I have decided to do it again.

On Friday 25 June 2027, around 100 riders will gather in Nice for the Grand Départ of Le Loop’s Tour of Tours. Over the following three weeks, we will ride 21 classic stages drawn from the history of the Tour de France. Most come from the past 15 years, but some reach back as far as 1974 and even 1939.

The route covers 2,936 kilometres before arriving in Paris.

Some riders will complete a few stages. Some will join for one of the shorter Loops.

This fool has signed up to ride every mile.

Between Nice and Paris lie some of the most celebrated—and feared—roads in cycling. There will be mountains, exceptionally long days, unreasonable gradients and several increasingly hostile negotiations with my own legs. Mont Ventoux appears twice in a single stage, presumably because climbing it once would be insufficiently stupid.

I shall be considerably older than I was in 2013. Whether I am any wiser remains open to debate.

Why I’m Doing It

Every Le Loop rider raises money for the William Wates Memorial Trust. WWMT supports charities that help disadvantaged young people avoid crime and violence and fulfil their potential through sport, art and education.

The past few years have been particularly difficult for charities and for the young people who depend upon them. I have been extraordinarily fortunate in life: fortunate enough to have adventures, to ride bicycles through beautiful places and, occasionally, to make a complete arse of myself while doing so.

This is an opportunity to give something back and help young people who have not enjoyed the advantages that many of us take for granted.

All donations made through this page go directly to the William Wates Memorial Trust. They are entirely separate from my participation costs and do not pay for my Tour.

Le Loop is no small undertaking. Riding one Tour de France stage hurts. Riding all 21 requires a more extensive vocabulary.

Please reward my poor judgement—and the considerable suffering it is likely to produce—by donating whatever you can.

The Story of My First Tour

My original journey around France became the subject of my book, Shadow Boxing with Major Tom: A Journey Through the 100th Tour de France.

It began with a biscuit and a spectacularly bad idea.

The book tells the story of what happened when a fundamentally ordinary cyclist attempted to ride the entire Tour de France route. It involves fisticuffs with polar bears, confrontations with Highland bulls, an Ashes-winning Australian cricket team, a tense game of starey-ootie with financial ruin, an exploding bicycle pump, weaponised cowbells and several increasingly one-sided negotiations with my own legs.

It is less an instruction manual for cycling the Tour than an account of how I somehow avoided making a complete arse of it.

Although I came perilously close.

If you would like to read about the first adventure while I prepare for the next one, the hardback is available here:

(Or it will be available here... very soon!)

Every penny of author royalties I receive from sales of the book will be donated to the William Wates Memorial Trust. Amazon’s printing and distribution costs are deducted before royalties are paid, but I will retain none of the royalties myself.

Purchasing the book is separate from donating through this page. Donations made here go directly to WWMT and do not pay for my participation in Le Loop.

If you can donate, buy the book, share this page or simply follow the adventure, I will be enormously grateful.

Please give generously. The mountains are waiting, the bicycle is being dusted down and several ageing body parts have already lodged formal objections.

Merci!

Neill