Besides mixing up the routes you ride, varying the discipline is another way of keeping things interesting when you are training – with Tom Stewart keen on ‘cross and mountain-biking.

“I’m riding pretty much every day,” explains the Madison-Genesis rider. “Personally I’ll do a mix of different disciplines – cyclo-cross, road and mountain bike – to try and keep myself motivated.

“It could be anything. I went out on my cross bike in the rain recently for four-and-a-half hours and I probably wouldn’t have done that on my road bike.

“I’ve had a right laugh and enjoyed four hours of solid base training – it gives you a lot of grunt because your cadence is so low – and on a Tuesday and Thursday night I’ll go into the woods and smash it for two hours with my mates and without thinking about it I get a good workout.

“If that was two hours of riding at tempo on my road bike then it’s something I wouldn’t be looking forward to. Because it’s something different, I enjoy it. If I’ve been out for two hours on the road in the morning, then I’ve had a four, five, six-hour day without thinking about it.

“Everyone will tell you different things. Others will go out the bare minimum, but smash themselves when they do – I know that’s what Roger Hammond used to do. But I enjoy the social side of it and it’s still really good training.”