Wild West Country

It’s commonly thought that making a route flatter is the best way to make it more accessible. There is some truth to this, but it overlooks why you would take on a challenge like this in the first place. Flat riding is generally less rewarding, less varied and less beautiful. The gradients will test you, but the views are worth the effort, and gentler sections in between let you recover before the next batch of climbs. Believe it or not, the route could contain more hills, so we have exercised some restraint. It is the length, the lenient cut-off and the logistical convenience that make Wild West Country a good choice for newcomers. We firmly believe it acts as a natural stepping stone to more challenging events, and having seen several riders go on to finish epics like the Transcontinental, it seems to be working.

It means that you can make use of any publicly available commercial facilities during your ride, e.g. shops and hotels. Or you can use items that you brought with you from the start. You cannot rely on any help that would not be available to all riders, e.g. staying with friends, assistance from other riders or supply stashes.

There are 60 places. We limit our entries to a lower level than many other events. The rule of thumb has always been that we need to be able to remember everyone’s name, and that dictates the maximum number of riders. Beyond this, we also consider logistical constraints and want to make sure we photograph every rider, ideally several times along the route.

You can read about that here.

Yes. The Bike Drop have kindly agreed to store a bag for you. We’ll give you a label to put on it at registration.

Stroud is the nearest station, less than 15 minutes away by bike. It’s also the best place to park if you’re looking for a long-stay car park.

This is very much a personal preference, but more gears would be no bad thing. Gravel gearing has worked well for tackling the steepest gradients in previous editions. If you take standard road gearing, you’ll be climbing out of the saddle a lot, so you need to be comfortable doing this.

No. For simplicity’s sake (and to avoid using disposable batteries) we only use Follow My Challenge’s Queclink trackers.

Yes, we have solo and pairs categories for all our events. When you enter, you can choose which you want to register for and will have the opportunity to say who your other half is if you’re entering as a pair.

Some other events have discounts for pairs, but please note that we don’t offer this. Our pricing is simply based on our costs and there are no cost savings for us if you enter as a pair.

You will need a regular commercially available solo* upright bike. However, it’s important that it is suitable for the kind of riding that the event will entail, since our routes are designed to be challenging. The right equipment is required to ride them safely and to minimise risk. For example, that means your bike needs to have brakes capable of handling steep, sustained descents. If you have any concerns that your bike may not be suitable/appropriate, please get in touch and we will be happy to advise.

*Tandems are also permitted for TPA and WWC, but you will be placed in a separate category rather than the pairs one.

Yes, you can! We know that some events restrict this, but we don’t. There are several reasons for this, but it is partly to help reduce costs for riders and make things less daunting for those with less experience. For those looking to push themselves, pre-booking accommodation rarely works and often becomes a hindrance rather than a help. Therefore, we find it is normally only less experienced and less competitive riders who take advantage of this rule.

Yes! Everyone who takes part will be sent an album of all the photos taken during the event. This is typically several hundred and will include not just the best photos but a wide variety. We realise that a photo may have significance or importance to a rider beyond its pure aesthetics, so we try not to be too selective with our editing.

You are welcome to use these photos for personal use, which includes personal social media and personal blogs. Please credit The Perfidious Albion when you do this. You cannot use these photos for any kind of commercial use. However, we grant exceptions to this on a case-by-case basis for business blogs and social posts. Please ask for permission if you would like to do this.

Yes! There are several ways that people can keep up with your progress during the event. You will have a GPS tracker provided by Follow My Challenge and this will be linked to a webpage, which we will share in the week before the start. Here, your dot will be visible and people will be able to follow your progress along the route.

As well as this, our team will be out on the route getting photos, videos and insight from all the riders. Our aim is to try and cover the whole field, meaning that everyone is intercepted at least once. A selection of photos and videos will be published as posts and stories on our Instagram account several times a day during the event, accompanied by brief updates on riders’ progress.

Finally, we have also teamed up with DotWatcher to provide in-event commentary on their site, accompanied by an embedded version of the event tracking map. Here, a commentator (either a volunteer or one of the team) will take you through each day’s events, giving an overview of riders’ progress as well as sharing any tales from the road.

You may have noticed that we don’t describe any of our events as races. There are a few reasons for this, but the key thing is that we don’t want to define success or failure for you. For some people, just finishing is the main challenge. For others, they will have a set time goal in mind. Then some of you will think you aren’t competitive until you get sucked into an arduous day-long battle for mid-pack places. And, finally, there will be those that simply want to be first across the line.

Basically, whatever we call this event, you will probably ride it the way you perceive it anyway. The most important thing to remember is that it is just you against the route. Embrace this battle, see what the weather and mechanical gods throw at you along the way, and we’ll see you at the finish.

As this isn’t a race, we really put the onus on riders to self-police when it comes to respecting the rules and being self-supported. We’re happy to advise and will definitely clarify any ambiguity for riders. But in the end, we’re all adults and there are no prizes, so there is a mutual understanding that the only person you’re cheating is yourself if you don’t respect the rules.

One of the areas that has come into focus in recent years is how strictly events define riding as self-supported. Because our events aren’t races, we intentionally take a slightly more relaxed view and stick to a definition that focuses on avoiding actions that gain a definite advantage, such as drafting, stashing kit etc. We are less worried about actions that could have a potential advantage, such as riding together for a couple of hours or pre-booking accommodation. Of course, we respect that races feel the obligation to prohibit these things and riders should be aware that different events have different rules.

No! We will highlight where resupply options may be limited and will provide a general overview of the route in the rider guide that flags things like this, as well as other potential hazards. But we believe that thoroughly researching the route and doing your own preparations for the ride are an important part of the sport, as well as fitting within our definition of what self-supported means.

Plus, from a safety perspective, we think it’s important that riders familiarise themselves with the route and identify what kit they might need and how much food they should carry.

There are some fixed costs associated with running events e.g insurance, web hosting etc., so a small part of the fee covers these. A larger part then covers things like trackers, caps and t-shirts. And then most of what is left (typically the majority with all our events) is used to pay for coverage and photography during the event. This includes logistical costs such as accommodation and transport, as well as staff costs. The final cost, which varies between events, is any start, finish and checkpoint fees that need covering.

It is worth noting that anyone paid during our events is only paid based on days worked, so there is no incentive to make our events more profitable. This means we usually invest in more photography (or a checkpoint during TPA23!) if we feel our budget can be increased. Any profit we do make is either reinvested into the events or given to charity. In 2023, we donated £300 to the bike project at Swindon Welcomes Ukraine.