The market for gravel riding adventures, whether a weekend away at a gravel festival, a guided day ride or a multi-day bikepacking trip, is huge, but equally, so is the range of companies who offer it. We chatted with John Heard, the co-founder of Wild Cycles about why deliberately slowing down some of the experiences they offer is one of the things that makes them stand out from the crowd. Read on to find out more.
Imagine you’re sitting in a deck chair, close enough to a camp fire that you can hear the crackle of the logs and you can feel the warmth on your face. The light from the camp fire illuminates people’s faces and enhances the rosy glow you only get after spending a day out in the hills. Not far away is a collection of bell tents, strung with fairy lights. In the background is an open sided marquee tent, also beautifully lit. Inside, the trestle tables are covered with delicious looking food and there’s a small band in one corner jamming on an eclectic mix of acoustic instruments and creating just the right foot-tapping ambience. The campsite is located in rolling hills and in a nearby wood, an owl hoots. A vast constellation of stars twinkly in the darkness above you.
That, in essence, is the Wild Cycles experience. Set up in 2020 by father and son duo, John (a former professional road cyclist from South Africa) and Jonathan (a graphic designer, author and photographer) Heard, their plan was “to help fellow adventurers to discover and experience the wonders, benefits and freedom that cycling has to offer.” Based in the Chilterns (a range of small hills roughly an hour north of London in the UK), they had the ideal combination of good scenery, great trails and perhaps most importantly a vast pool of potential customers, located on their doorstep. Setting up a new business at the height of the Covid19 pandemic was a bit of a double-edged sword – travel restrictions, concern about further outbreaks, strict hygiene regulations on one hand, but with a vast pent-up demand for getting into the outdoors on the other. Their first trip was a weekend along the Ridgeway – an ancient right of way which follows a chalk escarpment in the south of England.
We first came across Wild Cycles in spring 2022 when John invited Olly to join them on a reccie for what became the original Wild Wales Gravel Festival. Now a stalwart amongst their range of gravel tours, events and social rides, it was immediately obvious that the Heards had tapped into a great niche – using a gravel bike as a tool for experiencing amazing parts of the UK, but with the emphasis on the whole experience (location, food, atmosphere, community, inclusivity) not just on the riding.
If you search online for gravel riding weekends, it becomes immediately obvious how many companies are out there and the sheer variety of experiences on offer. We asked John what makes Wild Cycles different and he gave an example of something they put in place at their Wild Wales festival in the summer of 2024 “Too often hurried by bleeping devices, chasing the average speed, or just the thought of the finish line, we can find ourselves hurtling through without taking the time to actually touch, smell and see the places that we ride in. To counter-act this, at Wild Wales everyone got a small sketch book in their goody bag. Encouraging folk to take a moment to pause, reflect and really take in their surroundings was a way to slow things down. We asked everyone to write down a thought or sketch something) and this was followed by a post-ride "exhibition" and prize-giving. We were over the moon to see the positive responses to our idea.”
Just because Wild Cycles have a penchant for “taking it all in” doesn’t mean they only offer gravel riding aimed at the leisurely end of the market though – they offer a couple of multi-day bikepacking trips which include back-to-back 100km routes. While budding ultra-distance riders might roll their eyes at this, four consecutive 100 km days (even when your overnight luggage is transferred in a support vehicle) still puts the trip firmly into the experienced-riders-only camp.
Wild Cycles have realised that there is a growing market for introduction to gravel riding rides and weekend trips and so they offer a range of dates, but they also offer local day rides which are described as “chilled social rides”. As John explained “Wild Cycles is all about wild and exceptional outdoor experiences - and making them more accessible to a wider audience.”
If you would like to find out more about Wild Cycles, please head over to their website or check them out on Instagram.