2024 saw Wild West Country move to a new start and finish location at The Bike Drop, based within Brimscombe Mill, just outside Stroud. As well as this, the section of the route around the Isle of Purbeck was reworked, adding the dead-end toll road to beautiful Kimmeridge Bay as a new checkpoint. Overall, however, the length and profile of the route remained largely the same.
After a cold spring, the good weather arrived just in time for WWC24. However, the change was so sudden that the riders found themselves riding in temperature 10-15 degrees warmer than the previous weekend. Combined with the now customary fast pace over the early rolling sections, this meant that a number of riders found themselves struggling. By the morning of day two, several riders had scratched due to the heat.
At the front, however, the pace remained relentless and Thomas Reynolds broke the 40-hour mark to finish first, narrowly ahead of John Hale, who never gave up the chase. The rest of the riders trickled in over the following days, with a large storm meaning the back of the pack all hunkered down on Monday evening, rolling in on Tuesday afternoon instead.
Follow their ride through the photos below.
Photos thanks to Rob Gardiner (@robgardinercyclist), Sam Voaden (@thesamthatcycles), Kitty Dennis (@bluberrysmoothie_photos) & Nadia Shahanaz Hussain (@nadiashahanaz)
