The Woods Cyclery at Brother In The Wild 2024

We love 'Brother in the Wild!' by our friends Brother Cycles!

It always feels like the start of the summer. Those familiar faces that you havent seen for ages emerge from the depths of a grim winter straight in to a slice of heaven, trails, sea swimming, pub gardens and barn partying.

As usual we set up our mini 'Woods Cyclery' on site, selling some of our most interesting products and offering the best job of field repairs we could manage, without the tubeless setups, we learnt that mistake on year one, never again will we offer tubeless setups in a field.

I headed out on Saturday to catch up with some of our crew at Chapmans pool, we crossed paths at The Square and Compasss for an early pie, then headed down to the coast for a dip. It was high tide and perfect dipping conditions.

We got there just in time to see a certain german exiting the water in his now infamous birthday suit.

Despite a really pretty shitty forecast, Saturday turned out nice, even ending the day with a beautiful sunset over the Wizard Works tent.

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Post swim we continued on the Woods WTF route, or a version of it, leapfrogging lots of different crews, on our way to Swanage for Icecream.

I love Swanage, it is your quintessential English seaside town, weird and wonderfull and conveniently placed next to all of our favrouite trails.

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If you havant ever ridden the 'Woods WTF' route, we highly recommend it, its about 55 miles of the best Purbeck trails, its varied, raw, beautiful and about as fun as it gets for an ATB sorta bike.

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My favourite section of trail on Purbeck and the one responsible for my swollen elbow, 'Franks Tank' is so gnarly right now! The harsh winter has washed the gullies so deep and spread loose rocks in all the places you wouldnt want them to be. Its still fun, but go carefull!

My bike of choice for the day was my Rivendell Joe Appaloosa, it loves some rough stuff, and at the moment is the only bike that Im still running fenders on, at this point in the year Im normally fender free!

Sam and Ashley were on their Rune Rufus Stones, don't they look so good sitting against a Purbeck stone wall!? (one of my strict stipulations when considering a new bike purchase)

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Saturday night was as vibey as ever, after a big day out in the saddle, beer pizza/mexican food and campfires are just what you need.

That evening we chatted bikes, listened to 'The New Forest off-road clubs' inspiring fireside talk and some of us boogied.

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After pedalling our wares at the stall for a few more hours on Sunday morning, we headed out on the classic Sunday Route with all the Woods crew, including some staff that had to hold the fort back at the shop on Friday and Saturday.

I hadn't done the Sunday route since Will and I planned it on a grim winters day a few years ago, I completely forgot how full on it is! Loads of rutted singletrack, huge climbs and plenty of mud.

Don't let that put you off, It is a great route. We stopped at the beach for a dip and a beer and some food at the Banks Arms.

It was beaming sunshine, so I brought out my Sunday best.

My Brother Mr Wooden is what I consider to be my 'fast bike' its super light and nimble, and not your obvious choice for chunky Purbeck terrain, but I have had some of my best rides on this bike when pushing the limit of its design! Underbiking is great, especially on local trails that you know like the back of your hand.