You have entered the Etape du Tour.
Now the fear is very real.
The Etape du Tour is on July 19th. That date is only getting closer, and right now you are undertrained, confused by conflicting advice, and not sure you have made the right decision entering.
Etape Ready is a straight-talking 30-day training kickstart for recreational cyclists who want to cross that finish line. Built by a World Masters Champion who has ridden the Etape 15 times, it requires no power meters, no jargon, and no plans that ignore the reality of your life.
Does any of this sound familiar?
You entered the Etape in a moment of excitement and now the route profile is on your screen and the fear has well and truly set in
You have tried training plans before and they fell apart the moment real life got in the way
You ride three times a week if you are lucky and you are not sure that is anywhere near enough
You have watched the YouTube videos and come away more confused than when you started
You do not own a power meter and you are not convinced you need one but people keep talking about them
You cannot tell whether to do Zone 2, intervals or sweet spot and everyone online seems to disagree
You are somewhere between 35 and 65 and you suspect your body does not respond to training the way it did ten years ago
You lie awake wondering if you have made a terrible mistake
You know more than a thousand people fail to finish the Etape every year and you are terrified of being one of them
If you nodded at more than three of those, you are exactly who this was built for.
Here is what happens if you keep doing what you have been doing.
You arrive at the Etape start line knowing in your gut you have not done enough
You go out too hard on the first climb because you have no idea how to pace an Alpine event
You blow up somewhere on climb two or three and spend the rest of the day in survival mode
You miss the cut off or have to abandon on the side of a mountain in France
You come home and spend the next six months replaying it
And the worst part is not the physical suffering.
It is standing at the start line surrounded by thousands of other cyclists and knowing before you have turned a pedal that you are not ready.
That does not have to be your story.
Why listen to me?
I am not a textbook coach.
I rode my first race at 15. I competed for England and then Great Britain. In 2009 I became World Masters Champion for road cycling. I have ridden the Etape du Tour 15 times. I have worked as a mechanic on professional and Olympic cycling teams across Europe. I have written for cycling magazines. I have a British Cycling coaching qualification and have been coaching recreational cyclists for 20 years.
I was coached by Shane Sutton, one of the most respected coaches in British cycling history. Sir Chris Hoy has called me a Super Coach.
And in all of that time the one thing I have learned about coaching recreational cyclists is this: the advice and training that works for a professional cyclist will not work for you. You are not a professional. You have a job. You have a family. You have three rides a week if you are lucky. You need a plan built for the person you actually are, not the athlete you are assumed to be.
I have coached complete beginners. I have coached experienced riders who had plateaued for years. I have taken a rider from scratch to finishing the Etape in five weeks.
I do not use jargon. I do not hide behind power meters and heart rate zones. I do not give people aspirational plans they cannot follow. I give honest, straight feedback and achievable plans that work in real life.
That is what Etape Ready is built on.
What is the 30-Day Kickstart and why does it start here?
Let us be straight with you. You cannot get fully ready for the Etape in 30 days. Nobody can. The event is months away and getting properly prepared takes more than 30 days.
But here is what 20 years of coaching recreational cyclists tells us, the single biggest reason people arrive at the Etape underprepared is not lack of time. It is that they spend the first weeks riding randomly, following plans that do not fit their life, confusing themselves with conflicting advice, and not building the right foundation.
The 30-Day Kickstart fixes that. It gets you training with structure and purpose from day one. It builds the aerobic foundation that every week between now and July 19th depends on. And at the end of 30 days you will know with certainty that you can do this.
At that point you have one decision to make. You either continue with us with a structured plan or personal coaching to take you all the way to the Etape start line or you go it alone with 30 days of solid training already in your legs and a clear understanding of what the weeks ahead need to look like.
Either way, you will be in a better position than you are right now.
What you get delivered immediately on purchase.
The 30 day training plan
A structured, progressive 30-day training plan built around three rides per week, one longer ride of up to three hours, and two shorter rides of one to two hours each. Every session has a clear purpose. Every week builds on the last.
You do not need a power meter. You do not need a heart rate monitor. You need a bike, three rides a week, and the ability to pay attention to how your body feels. The plan tells you exactly what to do on each ride, how hard to push, and when to back off.
Bonus - Six Practical Tips Sheets
As a bonus alongside your training plan you also receive six short practical tips sheets covering the things that can make or break your Etape written in plain English, no jargon, immediately useful.
Climbing: how to pace Alpine climbs and prepare for them wherever you live
Descending: the technical basics everyone ignores until it is too late
Fuelling: how to eat and drink for six to eight hours without falling apart
Reading your body: train by feel, not by gadget
The mental side: stay in control when it gets hard
On the day: everything from wake-up to finish line, from someone who has ridden it 15 times
What happens when the 30 days are up?
At the end of your 30-day kickstart you will be fitter than when you started, you will have completed your longest ever training ride, and you will have a clear picture of exactly what the next 15 weeks to July 19th need to look like.
At that point you have one decision to make and two options in front of you.
Option A: The Full Etape Programme at £300
A structured 15-week training programme taking you from day 31 all the way to the Etape start line on July 19th. Three sessions per week, progressive, and built on the foundation the kickstart has already laid.
This is a standalone plan with no contact or consultation included. You follow the programme independently. It is the right choice if you are self-sufficient, motivated to train on your own, and want a clear structure without ongoing support.
Option B: Monthly Coaching at £200 per month
Fully personalised coaching for the remaining months to July 19th. Ben watches how you respond to training and adjusts your programme week by week in real time. You have direct access to him throughout and nothing is generic. Everything is built around you specifically.
This is the right choice if you want someone experienced in your corner, watching, adjusting, and making sure you arrive at that start line in the best possible shape.
For four months of coaching to July 19th that is £800, or £947 in total including the kickstart. For a World Masters Champion who has ridden the Etape 15 times to personally coach you to the finish line, that is exceptional value.
At day 30 we will be in touch with both options. You choose what is right for you. There is no pressure either way.
What cyclists say
One of Ben's clients entered the Etape du Tour feeling completely out of her depth. She was nervous, undertrained, and not sure she had made the right decision. She worked with Ben on a structured plan that fitted around her life and her fears. On the day she rode brilliantly.
‘The support from Ben up to and during the Etape du Tour made the difference between me being a nervous wreck on the start line and me being confident and sure I was ready. This was my first Etape and having heard and read so many scare stories, I wasn’t even sure I wanted to ride. Ben put my mind at ease and thanks to our preparations, really got me physically and mentally ready for the day. The Etape is a really tough event but with Ben’s help, it was also enjoyable and made me want to ride it again!’
Your questions answered
Why is the kickstart only 30 days if the Etape is not until July?
Because the first 30 days are the most important 30 days of your entire preparation. Get them wrong, riding randomly and following a plan that does not fit your life, and the weeks that follow are an uphill battle. Get them right and everything that follows is built on a solid foundation. The kickstart is where that foundation gets laid.
The plan is three rides a week. Is that really enough?
Yes. Three structured rides per week with clear purpose and progressive load is more than enough to build real fitness. The problem most people have is not that they ride too little; it is that they ride without structure. Three well-planned rides a week will move you forward every single week. Aimless rides will not.
I do not own a power meter or a heart rate monitor. Do I need one?
No. The training plan is built entirely around riding by feel and learning to understand your own effort levels without needing a gadget. Learning what hard and easy actually feel like will help you more on the Etape than any device ever will. In twenty years of coaching, that approach has never let a rider down.
I am in my 50s or 60s. Is this realistic for me?
Absolutely. The kickstart was built with riders aged 35 to 65 in mind. The training load, the recovery built into the plan, and the practical tips all account for the reality of training as an older rider. Some of the most rewarding coaching Ben has done has been with riders in their fifties and sixties achieving things they genuinely did not think were possible.
I have tried training plans before and they never work for me.
That is because they were not built for your life. Most plans assume unlimited time, perfect consistency, and no interruptions. This one does not. Three rides a week, a maximum of three hours on your longest ride, and built around the reality that real life gets in the way. This is a plan designed to be followed, not abandoned.
What if I do the kickstart and decide not to continue afterwards?
That is completely fine. At the end of 30 days you are under no obligation to do anything. You will have a fitter body, a clearer understanding of what the remaining weeks need to look like, and the practical tips sheets to help you get there independently. The kickstart stands entirely on its own. Continuing with us is an option, not a condition.
What is crossing that finish line worth to you?
You have already paid the entry fee. You have already committed to the flights and the hotel. The Etape is happening on July 19th whether you are ready or not.
The only question now is whether you arrive at the start line with solid, structured, purposeful training already in your legs, or whether you keep doing what you have been doing and hope for the best.
The Etape Ready 30-Day Kickstart is £147.
That is less than one night in a French hotel and less than a new set of tyres. It is the foundation that every successful Etape preparation is built on.
One finish line. This is where it starts.
July 19th is coming. The route profile is not getting any easier. The climbs are not getting any shorter. And every week you spend riding without structure is a week you will not get back.
The 30-Day Kickstart is not the whole journey. It is the right beginning of it. Thirty days of honest, purposeful, achievable training that builds the foundation everything else depends on, and ends with you knowing, for the first time, that you can do this.
Start the kickstart. Do the 30 days. Then decide what comes next.
