10 Years of Brother In The Wild!
May 21, 2026
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We celebrated 10 years of Brother In The Wild this year. We have attended 9 of them, all but the first. In the early days, it was held in The New Forest, just down the road from us.
We actually first connected with Will from Brother Cycles when he asked us to help put together a route for the 2016 event!
Always warm vibes
From day one, Brother In The Wild has set out to be an inclusive event, for all people and all bikes, with a focus on fun over distance or speed. That said, we have always put our name to the most challenging route option. A slight departure from our super chill Sunday shop rides!
Fun trails
As the event developed, Will and I discussed moving the site to our other favourite area to ride: the Isle of Purbeck!
I was so excited at the opportunity to plan some routes over there, having explored every inch during my cycling lifetime. The terrain is far more challenging than the New Forest, and could not be more varied!
So, The Woods WTF was born! We’ve tweaked the route over time but it has always hovered around the 50-mile mark with a good chunk of chunk, and plenty of elevation. 50 miles on The Isle Of Purbeck is pretty much all the good bits in one route (leaving some lesser known corners for the locals and the adventurous)!
Purbeck views
Frank's Tank
Our own bikepacking.com route ‘The Rat Run’ starts in the New Forest, and comes through Purbeck on its way North to Cranbourne Chase. This year we decided to ride out from the shop with a small crew, via Velo Domestique (our fav bike cafe in Southbourne) and onto the event site, using the first leg of The Rat Run route!
New Forest to start
Pit Stop
The two weeks before the event are a blur: we had Bespoked, Ronnie Romance and the Amundsen clothing crew swing by, Path Less Pedaled in for a shop visit video, and finally John Watson for a shop profile for the Radavist! To say the week was hectic is an understatement, but so fun!
John, Russ and Laura joined us for the ride out on their ‘Woods Built’ Big Bro and two Pinecones!
Path Less Pedaled en route
After a good coffee and a burrito at Velo Dom, I took the crew down to the Seafront to an old favourite of mine, the ‘seawall ride’. I lived just near it for many years and enjoyed seeing how high I could get!
John shaking his Big Bro down
Me (Tom) testing my Dead Forest (Pic By John Watson)
We have to thank Brother for working with us so closely all these years; the connection with them really helped us make a name for ourselves in the early days!
We have had so many fun projects together over the years, and it feels like a real milestone to be here ten years later, working more closely than ever and nurturing this incredible community we have built!
Bike chat
Post-ride chill
On the subject of community, Will and I had discussed that it felt like the British cycling scene was suddenly getting noticed by media across the pond! We have always looked at the U.S for inspiration, the bike shop culture seemed so far ahead for many years. My brain has always been influenced equally by British cycling history “The Rough Stuff Fellowship’ for example, and modern American media, like The Radavist, Bikepacking.com and Path Less Pedaled as well as shops like ’The Golden Saddle Cyclery’ (R.I.P) and their vibrant community.
I'm not sure if it's got something to do with the political climate in the U.S (not that ours is much better), or just that they are seeing something fresh, but the U.K scene is exciting right now! John Watson said, “The UK scene feels very DIY. DIY cargo bikes, DIY basket bikes, etc. It reminds me of the early aughts’ fixed gear movement.”
Thank you to John at The Radavist and Russ and Laura at Path Less Pedaled for visiting and shining a light on our little corner of the bike world! We can't tell you how much it means to us!
John testing the Sentient Big Bro tall Cargo bike
Square and Compass (best pub in the world)
I personally want to thank the Woods Team, every one of our staff puts their heart and soul into what we do, I am just one tiny part, a forgetful, scatty part that couldn’t do it without their support!
Owen setting up
Hannah 'The organiser'
Jack, on the tools.
We closed the bike shop entirely over the BITW weekend, a first for us. It was scary, I sincerely apologise to anyone who didn’t have a ticket for BITW and wanted to come and visit on the weekend! We did it for the staff: I wanted as many of the team to be a part of the celebration as possible! And apologies to the Café team who stayed behind to keep our customers caffeinated at least!
Tom
xxx
