The King's Trust Palace to Palace 2026: Ride Ready

The King's Trust Palace to Palace is such a worthwhile ride. It is also a real physical challenge, and the difference between riders who enjoy it and riders who endure it usually comes down to one thing: how well they are prepared.

The Headline Partner Sky has been generous in providing every participant with a structured training plan as part of their sponsorship. We'd encourage every rider to use it. A structured progression, started early enough, will get most people to the start line in reasonable shape.

A plan on paper tells you what to do. It can't tell you whether your pacing will hold over 100 miles, how to adapt when life gets in the way, or what to eat across six to eight hours in the saddle.

We're not here to replace what Sky has provided. We're here for the riders in your team who'd benefit from having someone in their corner.

The event, in plain terms. Both routes start at The Mall and finish at Battersea Park, looping through south-west London and into Middlesex and Surrey. The terrain is not dramatic in terms of climbing, but it is relentless in places, and neither route should be underestimated by a rider whose preparation has been inconsistent.

The two routes themselves present quite different challenges:

1. The Classic 50-mile route involves around 1,000 feet of climbing. Achievable for most active people with eight to twelve weeks of purposeful preparation, but "riding at weekends" is not the same thing as purposeful preparation.
2. The Ultra 100-mile route involves around 3,000 feet of climbing. This is a proper endurance event. Riders who arrive underprepared will know about it somewhere around mile 60 at the base of the Surrey Hills.

What we provide as part of the King's Trust corporate Big-50 package:

• Teams that buy 50+ places in the event will have access to a free event preparation webinar, with the date provided by the King's Trust team. In this webinar, we will cover the demands of both routes, how to get the most from the Sky training plan, pacing strategy, staying pain free during the ride, fuelling over a long day in the saddle, and what to do if training has gone off track. It runs for around 60 minutes and is designed to sit alongside whatever plan riders are already following.
• Beyond the webinar, we will also provide a 60-minute online training session to discuss core training principles such as consistency, rhythm and progression, plus the balance between duration in the saddle and intensity to avoid the dreaded "junk mile" style of training.

We can also provide additional support for your riders. Please contact us for more details and costs for the two different levels of extra support described below.

1. A Group Coaching Clinic midway through the training block, roughly four weeks out from the event. Riders bring their questions, we work through them together, and anyone who has drifted off course gets a clear path back. This works well for teams doing the 50-mile route, or riders who are generally fit but want reassurance.
2. Individual coaching from now to event day. For riders tackling the 100-mile route, or anyone coming to this relatively fresh, this is the option that makes the difference. We build a plan around the Sky progression, check in regularly, and adjust as needed. No junk miles, no guesswork, every session with a clear purpose.

We understand your riders are busy people. Most corporate riders are juggling training around work and family commitments. The Sky plan provides the framework. What we add is the judgement: knowing when to push, when to hold back, and how to make modest training time count.

Fitness gained through purposeful, well-structured sessions will always outperform the same number of hours ridden without direction.

The goal is simple. We want every rider in your team crossing the finish line at Battersea Park having ridden well, felt strong for the cause, and remembered the day for the right reasons.

If you're unsure which level of support is right for your team, the simplest thing is to have a short conversation. We'll talk through where your riders are in terms of preparation and what, if anything, makes sense to add.