The 2022 season is drawing to a close, so it’s time to look forward to 2023. A few weeks ago, we opened early entries for both The Perfidious Albion and Wild West Country to previous riders. Clearly, we’re not the only ones ready to make plans for next year and, as a consequence, we already have nearly 20 riders signed up.

We will be keeping both events fairly small for next year but have upped the Wild West Country to 50 places (from 40 this year). The rule of thumb we’ve established is that if I start to forget people’s names then we’ve gone too big, so we’ll see how I fare with 50 riders!

For 2023, not much has changed with either of these events, aside from a few minor tweaks. As ever, we reserve the right to make further adjustments, so the routes on the website shouldn’t be considered final yet. These are the most notable changes so far:

  • The Wild West Country is a week later in May, starting on 12th May 2023 (with registration the evening before)
  • The WWC route close to Dunster has changed, to avoid the busy A road, and now follows a succession of quieter backroads that add a couple of small climbs
  • The WWC route now takes the prettier Porlock Toll Road, but hardy souls can still choose to do Porlock Hill if they prefer! (I suspect this is marginally faster if you have the legs, but we’ve mainly left this option in for those curious to see just how savage it is)
  • The Perfidious Albion will happen next July! I said to a few people it was going to take a break until 2024, but quite honestly, I fell back in love with the route this year so it’s back again for 2023. The feedback from Donald and Joe was that the shorter version of the route nailed it, so thanks to them for being brave guinea pigs…
  • We’ve removed the green discount for TPA23, as most people use the train anyway and have just dropped the price by £5 instead
  • WWC23 will require a kit/parts donation from all riders at the start. This will go to the bike project at Swindon Welcomes Ukraine, which is refurbishing bikes for refugees. I visited last month and the work they’re doing is fantastic. We will follow up with suggested donations closer to the time. If anyone would like to donate before then, drop us a message.

Safe riding and I look forward to seeing you on the start line!

~Rob

About The Author

After several long cross-continental tours in my early 20s, I settled down into the world of work. I then began to foolishly describe myself as “retired” from cycling. How wrong I was. In 2017, I discovered ultra-endurance riding and my retirement came to an abrupt end. I’ve since broken a world record, competed in several races and discovered the delights of extreme sleep deprivation.

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