Nick McKinley

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Le Loop - supporting the William Wates Memorial Trust

Le Loop follows the official route of the Tour de France, one week ahead of the professionals and finishes 21 stages later in Paris

On Friday 25th June 2025 around 100 riders will gather in Lille for the 'Grand Depart'. Some cycle a few days, some ride further. More will join us over the following 3 weeks of the tour.

Riders tackle one of a selection of "Loops" riding anything from 2 to all 21 stages of the Tour de France route. Every participant commits to raising a minimum amount for the William Wates Memorial Trust (WWMT). The fundraised money is entirely separate from the participation fee - donations do not pay for my Tour

All monies raised go directly to the William Wates Memorial Trust whose mission is to help the most disadvantaged young people keep away from a life of crime and violence and fulfil their potential. This is achieved by giving grants to charities that engage young people through the medium of sports, arts and education.

It's been a tough couple of years for charities and particularly for young people. This is my chance to give something back and help support young people who aren't lucky enough to enjoy the advantages in life that most of us take for granted.

Le Loop is no small undertaking. Riding even ONE stage of the Tour de France route is going to hurt! Please reward my pain by giving generously.

Merci!

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So what is it like to ride the Tour de France?

Saturday 8th Mar

Sadly I never made the professional ranks, so I’m not qualified to say, but having ridden several multi day amateur events in the mountains of Europe I have a good idea of what I’m getting in to. 


The challenge I’m undertaking this summer, is to ride the exact Tour de France route, in the same order, replicating the experience the professional will have in the high mountains of the Pyrenees and Alps a week later.  


I will not be racing the parcours like the pros will be, the challenge of ‘just riding’ seven days back to back will suffice. But let’s add some context to what a week up ‘Pyrenee and down Alp’ will be like.  


The headlines.  


6 stages 

A whisker under 1000 kilometres 

22000 vertical metres climbed. ( Everest is 8850m ASL BTW OMG ) 

14 major mountain summits crossed ( were not counting the ‘lesser’ hills) 


Let’s break that down a bit further. 


The average distance covered each day is roughly 165km - 100miles in old money, or London to Norwich every day.  


Sounds bad already!  Well let’s put the vertical ascension on that. The biggest days have over 5000m of climbing and days which aren’t considered mountain stages still have a daunting 2000m+ of grippy bits.  


Normally on a training ride in the UK, I’d expect to cover 100km in around 3 hours or so, typically with 1000m of climbing.  A ratio of roughly 1m climbed for every 1000m travelled.  By comparison on the bigger days on Le Loop this ratio shifts dramatically to over 3m climbed per 1000m travelled.  


This obviously impacts average speeds, which will drop from low 30kph to something in the mid 20s and therefore longer saddle time each day.  


I’d expect a 170km ‘day out’ with 4 mountains climbed to take around 7 hours.  When you put all that together, rinse and repeat for a week and the size of the challenge that awaits feels a bit more daunting.  


One of the hardest elements of riding long days in big mountains, aside from the obvious gravitational issues, is energy or more accurately how to fuel your body to sustain the effort required.  


If we consider this in the context of running a marathon. The average time to complete a marathon is roughly 4.5 hours.  A runner would typically burn 100 calories per mile - so 2600kcal.  On the bike, when riding in challenging terrain you can expect to consume 800kcal an hour.  Or 5600kcal a day!  That’s a bit bonkers, given your daily calorific need is around 2000. Which means I’ll need to be eating 7500 calories a day! Elvis would be proud.  


It also equates to double the caloric need of running a marathon.  I’m not playing down the achievement of running a marathon, you certainly won’t see me ever running one, my cyclist’s knees wouldn’t like it.  Put simply, Le Loop Mountains week is in someways equivalent to running two marathons a day, for a week.  


Hmm. On that note,  I better get back to training…….


Le Loop 2025 - Why?

Tuesday 4th Mar
In July 2025, Ive decided to take on the challenge of riding the toughest mountain stages of this year's Tour de France, exactly like the professionals only one week ahead.  
Why?, Well those that know me, know I like a challenge and goal to aim for.  I was inspired by a friend who completed the whole Tour de France route - the 'Grand Loop' in 2024, and read more about the incredible work of The William Wates Memorial Trust, for who the sponsorship is entirely raised for.  

During 2024, I also faced one of the most difficult times both personally and professionally. I came through that with the support of family, friends and colleagues, which has left a deep appreciation to be in such a fortunate position. 

With this perspective and the inspiring work that the WWMT undertake, I am thrilled to be able to give something back by undertaking the Le Loop Mountains  challenge, and in doing so, support young people experiencing severe disadvantage.

My personal aim by completing the challenge is to raised over £1500. Your sponsorship will go directly to funding charities and initiatives that help young people have opportunities to take an alternative path to crime, drugs and antisocial behaviour. 

Any donation is so greatly appreciated.  

I will be adding to this blog regularly to update training progress......speaking of which, I better get on my bike.

Nick

Thank you to my Sponsors

£79.50

Vision Technology Ltd

Hi Nick, wishing you all the best for this demanding challenge! We'll be cheering you on - good luck Pat & Roy

£54

Nick Mckinley

£54

Ben Andrews

All the best Nick! Try not to get injured at this one. ;)

£53.32

Joe Nutter

£50

Adam Kaznowski

Good luck!

£50

Crmi Ltd

£27

Mark Greaves

great to see back in the saddle

£27

Lynda Higgins

£25

Celia Moore

Worthy cause. Good luck Nick. You’ll smash it!

£21.60

Stefano Pianigiani