Prudential RideLondon FreeCycle, part of the world's greatest festival of cycling, returns on Saturday 29 July 2017 offering riders of all ages and abilities the chance to cycle around eight miles of traffic-free, central London roads.

The event, which is part of a festival of cycling led by the Mayor of London's office, enables riders to pass iconic London landmarks including Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, St Paul's Cathedral and the Bank of England and again goes south of the river with a loop over Waterloo Bridge, offering stunning views of London. View the route map here.

Seven festival zones offer riders the chance to stop and enjoy a huge range of free bike-based entertainment and to try out many different bike-based activities. Each Festival Zone will have secure cycle parking so participants can leave their bicycles safely to enjoy the fun.

The seven Festival Zones are:

• Green Park
• Aldwych
• Lincoln's Inn Fields
• Guildhall Yard
• Leadenhall Market
• St Paul's Churchyard
• Southbank

New for 2017, the St Paul's Churchyard festival zone will be extended to Paternoster Square - the area made popular by the Channel 4 hit TV show First Dates.

As part of the bike-based activities at Paternoster Square, there will be an opportunity for people to take part in a new activation: Wheel Love. Couples will be offered the chance to pedal special Wheel Love date bikes around a section of the FreeCycle route -it could be a couple on their first date, a married couple on a date day, a friends date or anything else! Read more about Wheel Love here.

Returning to FreeCycle this year is world-famous stunt cyclist Andrei Burton who will be attempting to break more Guinness World Records at the London Trials Championship presented by Buxton in Green Park.

The Festival Zones will feature stunt cyclists, Street Velodrome, a mountain bike course, bike polo, Penny Farthing polo, stunt unicyclists, a pedal-powered juice bar, BMX tryout, a pedal-powered quiz, Cycle Scalextrics, the London Bike Market, a jump box ramp show, cycle cinema, drumming cyclists, a picnic area and much more (full details available here).

There will be music and entertainment all along the route too with bands, music bikes, stilt bicycles, stagecoaches and Penny Farthings to entertain the riders. There will be a picnic area at Lincoln's Inn Fields and a food market and big screen at Paternoster Square. Bike doctors will be on hand in case of any technical problems.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: "We are looking forward to welcoming tens of thousands of cyclists of all ages and abilities to Prudential RideLondon FreeCycle. It is a particularly brilliant opportunity for new cyclists to build their confidence on two wheels, and on a route that will take them past some of the most iconic sights of our city."

"Prudential RideLondon FreeCycle is one of London's top free days out for all the family," said Hugh Brasher, Event Director. "It's an amazing experience to ride through our great city on traffic-free roads and the Festival Zones offer wonderful entertainment for everyone. There's so much to see and do and later in the day, there's the chance to watch the world's best women racing in the Prudential RideLondon Classique and then the fun of the Brompton World Championship Final."

Ben Plowden, Director of Surface Strategy and Planning at Transport for London (TfL), said: "We're doing all we can to make London a better place to cycle, and I've no doubt that the opportunity to experience cycling on miles of iconic traffic-free roads, as part of Prudential RideLondon FreeCycle, will make thousands more Londoners catch the cycling bug."

Free registration for Prudential RideLondon FreeCycle is now open at www.PrudentialRideLondon.co.uk/FreeCycle. Everyone who registers before 14 June will be sent a free tabard and free goody bags will be available for all registrants from the Prudential RideLondon Cycling Show at ExCeL from 27 - 29 July.

The London Cycling Campaign will provide Led Rides to and from 30 London boroughs, enabling individuals and groups to cycle from home to join the route in the centre of London with return led rides at the end of the day. Find out more about Led Rides here

The organisers of the weekend festival of cycling will deliver an extensive community engagement programme with the support of TfL, the London boroughs on the route and Surrey County Council to help residents and businesses along the route plan ahead. This will include pre-awareness campaign posters on the transport network, a series of customer information emails and a leaflet drop in July to 1 million+ residents and businesses along the route.

Information on travel disruption and advice will be available on www.tfl.gov.uk/ridelondon. To avoid delays over the event weekend, all drivers are advised to avoid areas near the event routes.