2022 Brother in the Wild Dorset: The Biggest One Yet!

Words by Veronica Lowe (@ve_lowe), photos by Dan Monaghan (@cadence_images)

Pulling in behind the stretch tent, everything set up uncannily like the year before, there was something very homecoming about arriving at our second Brother in The Wild, the chill weekender of bikes and camping in Dorset, also known as the loveliest way to kick off the UK’s warmer months. From our spot across the field, we watched everyone arrive by bike or car or van. Old faces and new faces, all grins, of course. Tents popped up. Ruby the tandem sailed in majestically atop a car. Is everyone here friends? Because it sure feels that way.

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Friday night was a buzz of people giggling around campfires and chatting over food from Crossfire Cooking and Velo Domestique and beer from The Way Outback and Lucky Saint. After our panel discussion on diversity last year, it was great to see a more varied crowd at this year’s event. One of the key takeaways from the panel was that we live in an echo chamber—our social circles consist of people of the same demographic as us, and it often takes longer for those outside of these circles to discover events like BITW. This year, a portion of tickets were held back specifically for BAME riders, a key move for an event that would otherwise be sold out immediately. Although I don’t have the stats to back up this claim, it felt like there were more women this year too.

For 2022, we were excited to bring a competition to the weekend, one that fit the BITW ethos, which I’m guessing is ‘just have loads of fun’. A lot of far-out ideas we’re reigned in, and we settled with the simple ‘Find a Wizard’. The wizards, garden gnomes given the magic touch (a lot of pink spray paint), were hidden on the route to be brought back for a prize. In keeping with the BITW vibes, the reward would not go to the fastest, but rather to someone who stopped to take in the view or the person who looked back to check on a mate. And of course, as a bag brand, encouraging the ability to carry something is right up our street. As the sun came up to the muffled sounds of a campsite waking on Saturday, we raced off to hide some wizards. Our highlight of the mission? Chapman’s Pool, the sun climbing, the air still crisp, no one’s around but a seal languidly floating in the bay. It’s perfect.

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Back at camp, riders were shaking off the previous night’s dust, some notably dustier than others, and rolling out in happy groups. Jimmy’s was slinging iced coffees, there’s free candy at the Komoot tent, and the cool kids from The Woods were doing last-minute repairs. It was a working weekend for us, meaning we didn’t manage any of the riding, unfortunately, so I asked a few people what their highlights were from the day. Not surprisingly, everyone had the same response: the highlight is always the pals you make along the way. The groups are chill, everyone’s friendly, and you always end up riding with new faces and crews. The pool and the pub are great spots to regroup and rehydrate. It’s just a bloody fun day on the bike with your mates, some old, many new.

This year, Brother introduced a sustainability theme to the weekend, and the campfire talks on Saturday night echoed this. A great conversation about our impact on wild places between Will, the little brother of the Brother brothers, and Emma and Sam, ambassadors for Trash Free Trails, an initiative on a mission to reduce litter on trails by 75% by 2025. One small tweak to this year’s event? The only rubbish bins were by the barn, smack bang in the middle of all the action, meaning everything to be thrown away had to be carried to the front of the class, and you were compelled to sort it into the correct bins in front of your peers. Simple and effective. We also heard two fantastic interviews, one with the incredible Jessie Stevens, a young climate activist who last year cycled from her home in Devon to COP22 in Glasgow to raise awareness around the climate crisis and make sure young people were heard at the summit. And one with Emma, founder of Something Good, the UK’s first vegan and gluten-free expedition food brand, who spoke about striving to be a sustainable company and the limitations that come with being a small business.

Interestingly, although completely different industries, there were a lot of parallels with our own sustainability journey. Thankfully, all the wizards were excitedly brought back to camp, and my fears of having a really boring prizegiving were unfounded.

The rain held off until the late evening, but even that didn’t stop people staying up until the wee hours, spurred on by a DJ set from North London Dirt. When it was time to call it a night, we were lulled away by the delightful sounds of rain on tent and softly rolling thunder.

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Sunday morning brought angry clouds and more rain, but everyone was just as chipper as ever, maybe because we’re all properly hardened to the charms of British weather, or maybe the vibes are just so good that nothing could keep this crowd down. The brave set off on the Sunday route, but the most talk I heard was about heading to the pub to play board games, a very on-brand way to finish the weekend, don’t you think?

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