“Established in 2009, when Todd and Tomasito approached Mat one winter’s evening at a throw-in session, with the idea to create a new polo vision  - Cosmic3 was born.

The triangle was strong and in their first year of being together, Cosmic3 became UK Champs and runners up in the European Championships.

In Autumn 2010, Rupert aka Snoops  (formally Netto Superstars & 3 Beards 1 Cup) replaced Tomasito, who had moved to Amsterdam earlier in the year. Cosmic3 then became known simply as COSMIC.

On some occasions, the full cosmic line up may not be in a position to consist. In such cases, [...]]]> We are delighted to finally officially announce our partnership with current back-to-back UK and London Winter League Hardcourt Bike Polo Champions: Cosmic.

“Established in 2009, when Todd and Tomasito approached Mat one winter’s evening at a throw-in session, with the idea to create a new polo vision  - Cosmic3 was born.

The triangle was strong and in their first year of being together, Cosmic3 became UK Champs and runners up in the European Championships.

In Autumn 2010, Rupert aka Snoops  (formally Netto Superstars & 3 Beards 1 Cup) replaced Tomasito, who had moved to Amsterdam earlier in the year. Cosmic3 then became known simply as COSMIC.

On some occasions, the full cosmic line up may not be in a position to consist. In such cases, the cosmic eye will select a worthy polo god to wear the magical purple colours.

The vision and passion continues to shine deep in the cosmic eye, giving a very bright future ahead in the polo universe.”

Our partnership with Cosmic will see us produce Cosmic’s official match jerseys with a polo specific design. These will be unveiled in due course and hopefully aid the guys in their attempt to retain the UK title and take on the best of Europe and the World in Paris and Geneva respectively this summer.

To do our bit to help Cosmic’s journeys across Europe, we are producing this special “Cosmic Gods” tee (available here), with all funds going towards their transport and living expenses at the two major tournaments.

As Todd says:“This design goes way back and pretty much launched us. Each god has specific skills and traits which sum up each of us. I’ve wanted to update it for so long now ‘cause for me it’s such an important part of our history. The game has changed so much since I first sketched this out and I’ve tried to reflect that in the little updates like gloves and pads. Even the mallets are exactly the ones we use. So it’s almost a marker for bike polo in 2012. We’re trying to get some funds together so we can get to Paris and Geneva for the biggest tournaments of the year and what better way than to create a super special t-shirt. A massive thank you to anyone who buys one – we’ll do you all proud!”

The shirt is a fine cotton jersey with 4 colour screenprint, in Men’s and Women’s sizes S-XL and will be delivered to your door by mid-June.

As an extra special thanks to those that pre-order, you will also be entered into a free draw to win an ultra limited edition original Cosmic team cycling jersey, based on the new Cosmic team jersey that will be unveiled in due course.

www.cosmicbikepolo.wordpress.com

]]> http://milltag.cc/news/cosmic-bike-polo-x-milltag/feed 0 http://milltag.cc/general-update/orders-and-updates http://milltag.cc/general-update/orders-and-updates#comments Thu, 10 May 2012 20:00:39 +0000 Ed http://milltag.cc/?p=4464 As the rain continues to fall on London, here’s a couple of important updates…

Outstanding Orders: The last month has been very hectic here at Milltag HQ as some of you may know. We’ve got plenty of orders that are currently being manufactured by our wonderful factory and we know that some of you have been waiting a little longer than we anticipated to get your jerseys. We apologise for this delay and have been given a scheduled delivery date by the Milltag Machinisters that they will be us on 15th May. This means that you will get your items very shortly after that, and hopefully this should then see a change in the weather here in the UK so you can get on your bike and show your new jerseys off.

Custom [...]]]> As the rain continues to fall on London, here’s a couple of important updates…

Outstanding Orders:
The last month has been very hectic here at Milltag HQ as some of you may know. We’ve got plenty of orders that are currently being manufactured by our wonderful factory and we know that some of you have been waiting a little longer than we anticipated to get your jerseys. We apologise for this delay and have been given a scheduled delivery date by the Milltag Machinisters that they will be us on 15th May. This means that you will get your items very shortly after that, and hopefully this should then see a change in the weather here in the UK so you can get on your bike and show your new jerseys off.

Custom Jersey Orders:
As the cycling season swings into full effect with the first Grand Tour you may be pencilling in your rides for the summer and fancy a new custom jersey. Well, as you can imagine, there are a lot of folks with the same idea and this means we’ve had to take the difficult decision to suspend taking any more custom jobs that are required before August or September this year. The deadline to contact us if you require jerseys later in the summer is then May 25th, (unless it an order over 15 units). We will then open customs up again later in the season ready for next year. Remember, we consider each custom requirement exclusively and therefore don’t have a price list available. So if you want your own Milltag jersey design then get in touch and we can price it all up for you.

Ever since Bespoked when we unveiled the ‘Milltag Machine’ i’ve been itching to get out for a proper test ride, but since the heady days of that proto Summer we all know what the weather has dished up for us. I’m not totally averse to a bit of rain and have been pounding away on the training bike whilst ‘the machine’ remains hooked up on the garage wall. I decided to swap out the double chainset for the more realistic compact that I will be running to get through the Raid Pyrennean (720km, 100hours, 12,000m climbing) and managed this minor feat of mechanics apparently without too much trouble. Finally, a gap in the weather window meant I could put in a training ride a couple of weeks ago. Well, the bike [...]]]>

Ever since Bespoked when we unveiled the ‘Milltag Machine’ i’ve been itching to get out for a proper test ride, but since the heady days of that proto Summer we all know what the weather has dished up for us. I’m not totally averse to a bit of rain and have been pounding away on the training bike whilst ‘the machine’ remains hooked up on the garage wall. I decided to swap out the double chainset for the more realistic compact that I will be running to get through the Raid Pyrennean (720km, 100hours, 12,000m climbing) and managed this minor feat of mechanics apparently without too much trouble. Finally, a gap in the weather window meant I could put in a training ride a couple of weeks ago. Well, the bike rode perfectly but the gearing was playing up due to my inadequate grease monkying – the chain was jumping around and after 80km or so came clean off, wrapped around the crank and snapped in two. A walk of shame for a few km’s followed, until I happened across a helpful local bike shop, gawd bless em’ who got me back on the road and home again.

Last week I’d planned on a ride down to Brighton and back in a re-run of the Ditchling Devil audax ride I did last Summer. With route sheet printed and bike fettled for its first proper outing but the biblical conditions last weekend put paid to this jaunt as well, or at least postponed it until this coming weekend. A last word on the weather; this time last year I had sunbrun from my PBP qualifiers down to the New Forest and over to Wales (that’s Wales, and back, in a day!) but as I get ready for the more modest jaunt to Brighton it looks like i’ll be packing the thermal tights and winter gloves. Will this madness never end?

Nevertheless I’ve enjoyed watching the Spring classics, Big Tom’s ride on Paris Roubaix was simply awesome, and Brad’s recent wins in Paris-Nice and Switzerland showing what a real contender he’ll be at this year’s Tour de France – he’s written good article in the Guardian about this, 100,000m of climbing training, respect is due. But the start of the Giro on Saturday is the real deal. As I get ready to head off to do battle with the Pyrennes in a few weeks time this is just the kind of primer I need, I’ll catch most stages on Eurosport and, a bit like the cricket, not a lot happens for much of the day but the chit-chat is often more interesting than the racing. So much so that when I hit the one an only hill on my commute each morning i’m energised to give it a real go – or as the masterful Sean Kelly might say  ’let’s see whose got the good legs on them today’.

I won’t reveal the design to you just yet, but suffice to say it will look good day or night, on or off your bike. Fingers crossed they should be with us by the end of the month ready for the summer sun.

Note. Those eagle eyed amongst you at Bespoked Bristol may have seen the handful of limited edition caps made from some of our jerseys by Walz and these will also be available soon.

So, I’m pleased to announce our first artist is Edinburgh based Rebecca J Kaye.

“Born in Wales, I have lived and worked in Edinburgh for the past ten years.

My illustration style is colourful and bold, communicating literal meanings through simple visuals.

Originally trained as a statistician and latterly in creative advertising, I now split my spare time between illustrating, print making and cycling.”

Check out all her work at her site, she has prints for sale and they are very reasonably priced!

www.rebeccajkaye.com

If you want your work showing both her [...]]]> With the new format Facebook pages, we thought rather than blow our own trumpet with our pictures, we’d like to use the space for new bike related artists and designers. A kind of ever-changing bike art gallery for up and coming artists if you like.

So, I’m pleased to announce our first artist is Edinburgh based Rebecca J Kaye.

“Born in Wales, I have lived and worked in Edinburgh for the past ten years.

My illustration style is colourful and bold, communicating literal meanings through simple visuals.

Originally trained as a statistician and latterly in creative advertising, I now split my spare time between illustrating, print making and cycling.”

Check out all her work at her site, she has prints for sale and they are very reasonably priced!

www.rebeccajkaye.com

If you want your work showing both her and on our Facebook, email ed@milltag.cc

Yesterday I was lucky enough to be invited to see the new Tour jerseys by Le Coq Sportif and I think they are really rather special. Le Coq Sportif made the Tour jerseys for many, many years before loosing them to Nike in 1988 so they are determined to make an impact with these new designs.

The design for the actual jerseys that will be worn by the pro-riders feature a new Le Coq Sportif logo updated by Ron Arad (more contemporary and now facing right to look forward, not back), a new collar design that gives it an almost a ‘real shirt’ collar look and has extra tech in the form of longer skin tight sleeves and extra [...]]]> I wouldn’t normally eulogize about another manufacturer’s cycling jerseys, but this is different…

Yesterday I was lucky enough to be invited to see the new Tour jerseys by Le Coq Sportif and I think they are really rather special. Le Coq Sportif made the Tour jerseys for many, many years before loosing them to Nike in 1988 so they are determined to make an impact with these new designs.

The design for the actual jerseys that will be worn by the pro-riders feature a new Le Coq Sportif logo updated by Ron Arad (more contemporary and now facing right to look forward, not back), a new collar design that gives it an almost a ‘real shirt’ collar look and has extra tech in the form of longer skin tight sleeves and extra ventilation areas.

For the versions that you and me will be able to buy, you still get the new style collar but the normal arms. So, sadly your guns won’t be popping out like the pros.

I understand that LCS also have some other products that will be released shortly to celebrate their sponsorship of the Tour and I can tell you, they are equally well considered. But, if I showed you pictures, I’d have to kill you.

We have created a special Milltag Cavaliers jersey – to be unveiled soon –  and the only way of getting your hands on one is if we think you deserve one!

It’s the jersey that all our competition winners will get, so,  if you are awarded our favourite Owner’s picture each month, then you get one.

But more than that, perhaps you’ve a Milltag or cycling story that you think should see you or a friend honoured? We’ll be the judge of that…send them in and maybe you’ll become one of the Milltag Cavaliers.

Remember, it’s not necessarily about just riding well, it’s also about looking good and standing out from the [...]]]> Milltag Cavaliers are those Milltag aficionados who are worthy of particular recognition for their endeavors in the field of cycling for Milltag.

We have created a special Milltag Cavaliers jersey – to be unveiled soon –  and the only way of getting your hands on one is if we think you deserve one!

It’s the jersey that all our competition winners will get, so,  if you are awarded our favourite Owner’s picture each month, then you get one.

But more than that, perhaps you’ve a Milltag or cycling story that you think should see you or a friend honoured? We’ll be the judge of that…send them in and maybe you’ll become one of the Milltag Cavaliers.

Remember, it’s not necessarily about just riding well, it’s also about looking good and standing out from the peloton.

We look forward to hearing your tales and seeing your pictures…

It was a tough choice, but here are our favourites, with the winner at the bottom.

Eliza Southwood

Ciara Southwood

Tink Hastings

Riley Brightwell

Kris McGowan

Hollie Taylor

Gil Southwood

And the winner is….

We love the freeform Jackson Pollock-esque linework, colour choices and especially as it is by the budding artist Nadia Mae Chapman (aged 2 and a half). Well done Nadia, we’ll be in touch to complete your jersey!

Thanks everyone for entering.

Londoners, want a mayor who cares about cycling? from martinib.eu on Vimeo.

www.londonersonbikes.org

We will have a load of jerseys with us as special Bespoked prices, a competition to have your own design made, giveaways and also the Qoroz RaceWon bike (below) that we are currently giving the Milltag treatment to show off our collaboration with the titanium bike company.

See you there!

The Pinterest page in question is here and I’m looking for your help to get as many jerseys in there as possible. Just email me with links or images to ed@milltag.cc or if you think this is something you would like to really get involved with then I’ll give you a login to this page so you can add more jerseys [...]]]> I’ve recently started using the online mood-board website Pinterest, and it’s great. Basically it’s somewhere to save all those images you find where surfing the net and want to keep without cluttering up your computer. Anyway, I’ve started a board with the aim to collect as many cycling jersey images as humanly possible (obviously!) which will hopefully develop into a full database for inspiration and information on historic jersey designs.

The Pinterest page in question is here and I’m looking for your help to get as many jerseys in there as possible. Just email me with links or images to ed@milltag.cc or if you think this is something you would like to really get involved with then I’ll give you a login to this page so you can add more jerseys at will.

Thanks in advance and enjoy browsing!

Here’s some great shots of the action by Will.

And there’ll be more very exciting polo news to come soon…

Go!

A lesson in aerodynamics.

Keep pushing.

On the line.

Can I have this guy’s job?

I won’t spoil the final judging day that takes place on the 7th March or give any unfair advantage to any students, but I’m really excited to see the final entries if this was anything to go by. I wouldn’t be surprised if we end up making a series of London jerseys based on what I saw!

Good work, carry on!

Y

Back in the Autumn of last year I answered a blog posting on my cycling club blog asking for volunteers to take part in a research study. The requirements asked for performance cyclists aged 18-30, I qualified on neither count but fresh from my exploits in France (PBP), I sent my details in anyway. I suspect the research team had to widen the criteria because at the beginning of the year I heard that I’d been selected, and that the study would take place at the British Olympic Medical Research facility at UCL in central London – yes, I could be responsible in some small way in delivering Cav to gold this summer.

I’ve never bothered much about the performance data side of cycling – HRM, power meters and the like [...]]]>

Back in the Autumn of last year I answered a blog posting on my cycling club blog asking for volunteers to take part in a research study. The requirements asked for performance cyclists aged 18-30, I qualified on neither count but fresh from my exploits in France (PBP), I sent my details in anyway. I suspect the research team had to widen the criteria because at the beginning of the year I heard that I’d been selected, and that the study would take place at the British Olympic Medical Research facility at UCL in central London – yes, I could be responsible in some small way in delivering Cav to gold this summer.

I’ve never bothered much about the performance data side of cycling – HRM, power meters and the like – always favouring the ‘get on your bike and hammer away for as long as you can stand it’ approach. But, the world of science can teach us a few things and the opportunity to get some insight into your physical capabilities can be useful for any level of cyclist.

This particular study required 3 visits on consecutive weeks, each time the format was the same – some preliminary measurements were taken, blood analysed and various pre-conditioning protocols undertaken before being hooked up to machines that go bleep, then getting on a static bike for the dreaded ‘ramp test’. The purpose of the study was to investigate the effects of restricting blood supply to the legs using inflatable cuffs (essentially larger versions of those used when measuring blood pressure) prior to exercise, measurements being taken on blood composition and lactate levels before, during and after each test.

So, the ramp test – what’s it like? First, you have to select a cadence that you feel you can maintain – I bullishly went for 90 which may have been a bit strong but ultimately you end up in the same place however you get there, flat out and spent. It’s a pretty standard static bike set-up but you have no feedback except the cadence meter to guide you. Probes are attached to your thigh, to measure blood oxygen levels, plus a HRM and facemask attached to a bulky, chest-mounted device that measures VO2 max. You are counted down and the fun begins, starting with a four minute warm-up at 200 watts – the equivalent of running a biggish gear on the flat. Pretty soon you hit the ideal cadence and settle in, feeling pretty easy and relaxed. Every minute or so you point to a chart scaled 1-10 rated for perceived exertion, from no effort to maxed out. You are not aware of any incremental increases, but after the warm-up the resistance is upped by 50 watts every minute. With no data or sense of time elapsing, all you have to go on is the quickening of your breath and the burning in your legs to inform you. The research team start to shout encouragement, louder and louder, suddenly it seems to be getting much tougher. You can’t stand up or shift position, one minute you are pushing hard but still in control but quickly everything starts to close in…your rocking, trying to get the power down…you can barely focus but you see the cadence meter dip below 90…89…88 each pedal stroke now becoming painful, and then it’s over. A sudden intense exhaustion washes over you, passing quickly to the more familiar state when cresting a climb, ready to go again after a little recovery. But, there is no again in this test, like The Deer Hunter there’s only one shot. Until next week when you get to do it all over again.

Now that I’ve finished all 3 trips, I have some of the data but much of it is still to be properly analysed. I managed to get up to a max power of 450 watts, a duration of around 9 mins 30 each time, with a max heart rate of 185. Reassuringly, my heart rate dropped steeply each time at the end of the test – I don’t race or time trial so recovery rates are more important for the endurance cyclist. I’m waiting to hear back on my VO2 max and other data but it’s safe to say I won’t be troubling Cav (max power 1200 watts) anytime soon. Essentially, I found out what I probably already knew – I’m a fit middle-aged bloke with the capacity to be reasonably effective on a bike, but nothing more without radical changes to lifestyle, diet and training. Ah well, better that than discovering I’m a potential Olympian whose just not trying hard enough.

Finally, thanks to Will, Carissa and Andrea at BOMR for giving me the opportunity to take part in this study, I hope it proves useful to someone.

Fig 1: Case No. E10/76C (circa. 1981)

Think you have the gene? Our scientists want you to post your own evidence on our Facebook page.

The best will win their own one-off custom designed jersey and our favourites will be collected together for a full thesis later in the year.

Ben Steers

Steven Bonner

Matt Giordano-Bibby (aka Baddesigner)

Andrew Thorpe

Stay tuned for the designs!

For those that don’t know, I am a graduate of Camberwell College of Arts and in this hugely significant sporting year for London we at Milltag want to create a jersey that encapsulates all that is great about our fine city. What better way to do this than through a competition with the best young creative talent that London has to offer??

The competition runs till early March and is open to any student at one of the six colleges that makes up the UAL (Camberwell, Central St. Martins, Chelsea, London College of Communication, London College of Fashion and Wimbledon College of Art). The winning design (judged by a panel including myself and tutors [...]]]> We are proud to announce a special jersey design competition with the students of London’s University of Arts.

For those that don’t know, I am a graduate of Camberwell College of Arts and in this hugely significant sporting year for London we at Milltag want to create a jersey that encapsulates all that is great about our fine city. What better way to do this than through a competition with the best young creative talent that London has to offer??

The competition runs till early March and is open to any student at one of the six colleges that makes up the UAL (Camberwell, Central St. Martins, Chelsea, London College of Communication, London College of Fashion and Wimbledon College of Art). The winning design (judged by a panel including myself and tutors from UAL) will go into production, profits will be shared with the winning designer and there will be an exhibition of the top designs later in the year.

All the information can be found on the Commonplace, a website created by current and graduating students at UAL which gives students friendly, practical tips and advice on preparing for university success and getting the most out of the big city.

Suffice to say I am very excited to see the entries.

It’s been a quiet start to the New Year here at Milltag HQ but plans are now well underway for some interesting projects we hope to be involved with over the next few months. First off, we’ll be unveiling our stealth winter jacket ‘The Dragsman’. This our first Milltag branded product so we’d welcome your feedback –  good or, heaven forbid, not so good. In addition to a new jersey series, we have some other products in the pipeline which we hope to have ready in time for Bespoked Bristol on March 24th.

Talking of Bespoked, we are in talks with a bike manufacturer about working on a custom designed bike to show on our stand. This is part of an ongoing collaboration which involves some design and rebranding work plus [...]]]>

It’s been a quiet start to the New Year here at Milltag HQ but plans are now well underway for some interesting projects we hope to be involved with over the next few months. First off, we’ll be unveiling our stealth winter jacket ‘The Dragsman’. This our first Milltag branded product so we’d welcome your feedback –  good or, heaven forbid, not so good. In addition to a new jersey series, we have some other products in the pipeline which we hope to have ready in time for Bespoked Bristol on March 24th.

Talking of Bespoked, we are in talks with a bike manufacturer about working on a custom designed bike to show on our stand. This is part of an ongoing collaboration which involves some design and rebranding work plus a video and book development. All very exciting for us, and them we hope. Ed’s also helping to organise a student design competition for all London based art schools. The prize? You guessed it, the winning entry immortalised as the humble cycling jersey.

A busy Spring will see us producing more custom jerseys for clients all over the world, ready to hit the road once the weather warms up a little. We produce unique, bespoke editions of 1 to 1000 or more, please get in touch if you are involved in an event of whatever scale and we’ll see what we can do to help. A little later in the year, there’s a ‘Big Event’ here in London (can you guess what it is yet?), and we have a big plan for this to match. At the moment that’s all it is, watch this space.

Back to the here an now, tomorrow sees me lining up once again for the start of the Willy Warmer. It’s exactly a year after I did this ride for the first time as my inaugural PBP Qualifier – no such incentives this time but i’m hoping to improve on last year’s 6th place finish in 8’45″…the forecast strong tailwind on the way home should help. Ed’s lent me his bike GPS, its the first time i’ll have used one of these – if I end up in Wales it could well be the last. Enjoy your riding this weekend, wherever you are.

It’s been a truly epic year for cycling; the most exciting TDF ever, an even more exciting Vuelta and then Cav’s win in the World Champs made 2011 a memorable one for all the right reasons. For me, Post-PBP could have been a huge anti-climax but a combination of the fantastic Autumn weather and the desire to keep some semblance of fitness has seen me complete a couple of 200km audaxes over the past couple of months. On Saturday I found myself on the start line just outside High Wycombe for the South Bucks Winter Warmer, unofficially known as The Tour of Sainsbury’s, so called because all the controls happen to be Sainsbury’s garages. The route takes you south through Eton and onwards through Surrey to the turnaround point at [...]]]>

It’s been a truly epic year for cycling; the most exciting TDF ever, an even more exciting Vuelta and then Cav’s win in the World Champs made 2011 a memorable one for all the right reasons. For me, Post-PBP could have been a huge anti-climax but a combination of the fantastic Autumn weather and the desire to keep some semblance of fitness has seen me complete a couple of 200km audaxes over the past couple of months. On Saturday I found myself on the start line just outside High Wycombe for the South Bucks Winter Warmer, unofficially known as The Tour of Sainsbury’s, so called because all the controls happen to be Sainsbury’s garages. The route takes you south through Eton and onwards through Surrey to the turnaround point at Alton in Hampshire. From there its a dash back through the Thames Valley and back over The Chilterns to the finish.

What a great day it turned out to be, mild with a slight headwind on the way out. Great company and a good pace meant the miles flew by. Controlling at a garage forecourt may not offer much by way of comfort but does ensure you get on with it and get away before you get too cold (it’s still December). The 50km from Godalming to Alton took us up a few steep ascents through a beautiful wooded hillside, at 20% in places I made full use of gear 27 but the chap I was riding with at the time managed it on a 71″ fixed gear – maximum respect. A short time later a fast rider came past and, knowing this could be the train that takes us both home, we jumped on and cranked up the pace. I’d love to say it was then a perfect example of ‘through and off’ group riding but the reality was I shamelessly took a wheel and held on for grim death. Still, by the time it got dark we only had 20km to go and after a laborious (for me at least) final ascent we all managed to roll in at 4.47pm, showing 211km on the clock after a few minor deviations along the way. Although I was carried for much of the last 50km, it was still my fastest 200 at 8’47′ (rolling average 27.9kmh) and to finish with the leading group was a glorious way to complete my audax year.

What next? Here’s my list of to do’s – we’ll see how many I actually manage

1) Willy Warmer 200K – Jan 21st.  The road to PBP started here but it’s still a good opportunity to get back on the bike after the festive excess

2) ‘Silly 50′ – March. Possible the toughest 50km of riding you can have in North Downs, suffered like a dog this year, will it be any different next?

3) Spring Sportive & and 3Down 300 audax ride – April

4) Brian Chapman 600km audax – May.  The ‘must do’ long distance UK calendar ride, 8200m of climbing through Wales, west to east and back. Weather usually terrible so great preparation for….

5) Raid Pyrennean – Mid June. 720km, 12,000m climbing, 100 hour time limit. Every major Col in the Pyrennes, traversing West to East from the Atlantic to the Med. What’s not to like?

6) Dunwich Dynamo – End of June, – one of my favourite rides of this year, I’ll be back for more.

7) Ride the full route of the Olympic road race, post a time and see how far off the pro’s I am (as if I need to know)

Enter a Time Trail (New Bike?!)

9) Track cycling in Manchester and London when open

10) Last, but maybe most importantly, my 12 year old has a road bike and has been cycling with me for the past couple of years, poor chap – usually a couple of laps around Richmond Park on the odd Sunday. Now he’s ready to push it on a little, he’s training for his Karate Black belt and needs to work on his fitness so we’ll be starting a 1ookm audax together sometime. A proud moment for sure.

Finally, the title of the piece is an homage to Jason Molina, in my opinion one of the greatest songwriters of the past couple of decades. He’s the man behind Songs:Ohio and the Magnolia Electric Co, writer of beautiful, heartfelt songs about love and loss, but also of life spent on the road and the search for a place to call home. I’ve used his music for a couple of the films I’ve made, and countless ones i’ve like to make – to my ears they are perfect cycling soundtrack. The reason for mentioning this? Word reaches me that he has been very ill and needs help, his record label have set up a donation page which will be getting my Christmas charity coin this year. More information here if you are interested. Bon Courage, JMo.

Back in 1991 as a 15 year old, I found music, proper music that is. Gone were Guns N Roses (no offence Axl), replaced by Ride, The Stone Roses, Blur, Catherine Wheel and Ned’s Atomic Dustbin. Now, OK, perhaps looking back 20 years later the music of the Neds isn’t deemed as ‘classic’ as the likes of Ride and the Roses, but they were MY band. Over a period of about 18 months, I amassed thirteen [...]]]> Today is 6music’s “Wear your old band T-shirt to work day” and it feels apt to pay my own personal homage to the great band T-shirt. You see, looking back over the years I think it’s not an understatement to say that band t-shirts changed my life and made me the man I am today….

Back in 1991 as a 15 year old, I found music, proper music that is. Gone were Guns N Roses (no offence Axl), replaced by Ride, The Stone Roses, Blur, Catherine Wheel and Ned’s Atomic Dustbin. Now, OK, perhaps looking back 20 years later the music of the Neds isn’t deemed as ‘classic’ as the likes of Ride and the Roses, but they were MY band. Over a period of about 18 months, I amassed thirteen of their shirts (and 2 pairs of extremely sweaty Ned’s shorts!) So, with no embarrassment, here’s what I’m wearing today (Tees weren’t half big in them days!)….

During those heady (geeky is probably more apt) teenage years I was never out of a band tee. It became part of the gig ritual to buy a tee, especially if you thought you’d seen a support band destined to great things – the true mark of an indie fan is always that ‘I was into them first’) – cue several tees from bands that never did anything (Nyack anyone??).

From the tees, came my passion for graphic design. I must have drawn that Ned’s logo hundreds of times and my GCSE Art included the tee for my first band “Intravenous” (covers included Primitives’ ‘Crash’, Ride’s ‘Chelsea Girl’ and ‘Vapour Trail’ and ‘Anarchy in the UK’!). I even made a few quid from mates at school painting band logos onto those old Army and Navy canvas bags that everyone seemed to have – from Sugar and Nirvana to Nirvana and Suede, I was a dab hand with a paintbrush and acrylic paints (I still have one in my folks’ loft that I can’t bear to throw out.) But, the path to Designer did not run quite as smooth as you my think. I went to university and although I was producing a fanzine for The Bluetones whilst in Manchester, I was actually studying Law & Accounting.

Skip forward to the present day and I’ve finally got to where I should always have been. A short career in insurance ended with me determined to pursue my dream, lead me back to art college and finally to designing for a living.

And so to Milltag… created in 2010 by myself and fellow designer Pete (who worked for a time at Universal Records – hence the discs behind me in the photo) I like to think that at it’s heart is that same feeling that you get from band tees. That pride you get from wearing something different that only a select few know about. That tribal feeling you get when you see someone else in one. A knowing nod and a wink to a fellow Milltagger as you pass by on opposite sides of the road. And it gives me even more satisfaction that we’ve even managed to do jerseys for The Pixies and The Wedding Present. You could say I’ve come full circle.

So, thanks band Tees, you made me.

Jerseys are discounted from 28% to a seriously daft 65%!

Take advantage before 14th December, when the sale ends (last day of UK Christmas postage for Milltag too).

Merry Christmas!

The sport is growing rapidly, especially in London, with matches played practically every weekend. On top of this there are also a number of top-class international tournaments during the summer with UK teams increasingly battling for the higher places.

With this in mind we want to help support the sport by providing kit for the top teams, so here’s the first for the London team the North East Kings.

The bike polo specific jerseys have been designed with the same quality you’ve come to expect from our normal cycling jerseys. With the same eye for a tailored silhouette, aided by the elasticated sleeves, hem and pockets, the jerseys are designed so as not to [...]]]>

Over the past few months we’ve been working hard developing our new sub-division: Milltag Bicycle Polo (MBPD for short).

The sport is growing rapidly, especially in London, with matches played practically every weekend. On top of this there are also a number of top-class international tournaments during the summer with UK teams increasingly battling for the higher places.

With this in mind we want to help support the sport by providing kit for the top teams, so here’s the first for the London team the North East Kings.

The bike polo specific jerseys have been designed with the same quality you’ve come to expect from our normal cycling jerseys. With the same eye for a tailored silhouette, aided by the elasticated sleeves, hem and pockets, the jerseys are designed so as not to catch a stray mallet or pedal. Gone are the extra rear zip pocket and the silicone gripper that are more useful to a normal cyclist and instead of a zip and collar on the front we have a V-neck collar to really show off the team graphics.

If you are interested in having your team in a MBPD jersey, get in touch and see the Kings in action on Hackney Downs where the London Bike Polo League plays every Sunday morning.

All the INSA x Milltag jerseys are now sold out!

(Pics: Teddy@Protein)

The all black thermo fabric wouldn’t perhaps seem the best choice for those darker winter rides, but thanks to the Milltag Orange fluro reflective piping and some mega high-tech hidden black reflectives the Dragsman means you don’t have to remove your retina burning outer layer the second you dismount for fear of looking like you’ve just left a rave.

We will be making a short initial run of 30 in time for Christmas (UK postage) so anyone interested in getting hold of one for only £80.00 should email me this week to make sure they are first on [...]]]> Some of the more eagle-eyed amongst you my have seen a teaser of our new jersey last week, but here’s a bit more about the first fully designed Milltag product: the “Dragsman” winter jersey.

The all black thermo fabric wouldn’t perhaps seem the best choice for those darker winter rides, but thanks to the Milltag Orange fluro reflective piping and some mega high-tech hidden black reflectives the Dragsman means you don’t have to remove your retina burning outer layer the second you dismount for fear of looking like you’ve just left a rave.

We will be making a short initial run of 30 in time for Christmas (UK postage) so anyone interested in getting hold of one for only £80.00 should email me this week to make sure they are first on the list (ed@milltag.cc). Full details to follow…

The exhibition continues at 18hewettstreet.co.uk until 20th November. Jerseys available in our shop!

Thanks to Tom and Dan for modelling/showing off your bike handling skills and Bernard for the great shots.

Only a few days to go before INSA’s latest show takes place on 10th November at 18 Hewett Street, London EC2A 3NN and we can now unveil our collaboration jerseys that will feature…

There’s a colourway there to match both the photographs on display, but also pretty much any bike colour imaginable!

Don’t forget if you are signed up to the newsletter you’ll get first chance to purchase one of the three jerseys of each colourway this Wednesday, before the show even opens it’s doors.

“Working with volunteer models, bikes (INSA’s current preferred icon of commodified culture), and large scale painted walls INSA creates momentary installations in public spaces.

In this set of photographic works the viewer is instantly confronted with a series of subjects fighting for attention. INSA orchestrates a conflicting dialogue between all the elements and explicitly subordinates the value of his own street art to both the possessed object of the bike and the overtly sexualized female presence. Thus questioning our individual perceptions of the ownership of public space, of sexuality and of belonging(s). And by using the colour spectrum as a [...]]]> We are extremely pleased to be able to announce a very special collaboration with the high-heel loving street-artist INSA for his ongoing public installation project “Girls on Bikes” this November in London.

“Working with volunteer models, bikes (INSA’s current preferred icon of commodified culture), and large scale painted walls INSA creates momentary installations in public spaces.

In this set of photographic works the viewer is instantly confronted with a series of subjects fighting for attention. INSA orchestrates a conflicting dialogue between all the elements and explicitly subordinates the value of his own street art to both the possessed object of the bike and the overtly sexualized female presence. Thus questioning our individual perceptions of the ownership of public space, of sexuality and of belonging(s). And by using the colour spectrum as a simple narrative INSA unifies this series of walls that were painted across the globe.”

We are producing 12, yes, twelve, different jerseys inspired by each of INSA’s photographs (limited to only 3 of each colourway).  Each jersey will come with a signed postcard of the associated photo and will be exclusively available for pre-order to the Milltag mailing list for one day before the rest of the world gets to order them once the show starts on 10th November. So, make sure you are signed up to receive our Newsletter (on our homepage) and the date for your diary is 9th November when we will be unveiling all 12 designs and you can get an awesome piece of art in cycling jersey form.

Plus, on the opening night Luardos will be bringing their freshly custom painted (by INSA) taco truck to the space to serve up the best fish tacos (peep the truck above).

About INSA

INSA’s world is one where art, product, graffiti, fetishism, and desire collide.

INSA is a fine artist and designer who has established himself from a graffiti background through extensive street level work and gallery shows around the world. Throughout his career, INSA has allowed himself to explore different approaches and outlets for his artistic agenda, including designing signature collections for brands such as Kangol, Kid Robot and NIKE, as well as starting his own heel company ‘INSA HEELS’. In 2010 INSA was commissioned by TATE Britain to produce some work inspired by Chris Ofili, he produced the highly coveted ‘elephant dung heels’.

INSA’s paintings and installations are often hyper real, finely crafted creations in which sexual desire and commodity-fetishism merge and contrast. Always with a heavy sense of irony, INSA visually exaggerates the notion of objectification meets commodification with graphically depicted oversized body parts that are suspended in the controlled architectural lines of a sneaker or bold black and white graphic patterns. INSA uses these powerful patterns to play with and distort the spaces where his work is installed to entice the viewer into the ‘fantasy’; a shallow fantasy of materialistic aspiration where sexual objectification is flaunted as a symbol of wealth and success.

“INSA’s work, contrary to some at first glace, speaks to an inquisitive and informed viewership. His beautiful women flaunting oiled skin and high heels or name brand sneakers serve as modern icons and symbols of our lavish and unsustainable, even unhealthy, lifestyle. Our obsession with sex, consumerism, the female body- he uses the inherent “want” of humanity in this most modern context to show that it isn’t really about any of that. The whole game is serving up exactly what is least anticipated.

Debord’s forefather Karl Marx argued, “Fetishism is ‘the religion of sensuous appetites’ [...] the fantasy of the appetites tricks the fetish worshipper into believing that an ‘inanimate object’ will give up its natural character to gratify his desires.

This critique of contemporary consumer culture and commodity fetishism is personified throughout INSA’s works of immediacy and presence.”

- Juxtapoz Magazine

www.insaland.com

Read the interview with Nick here and see his website here.

The site is “a self-initiated project by Bristol-based creative production agency, Pixillion…There’s a different kind of relationship developing at work with people falling in love with riding their bikes all over again. We want to explore how the Work Cycle is beginning to shape the workspaces that we journey to”.

We look forward to having the Milltag HQ featured on there in due course!

Tribal DDB Amsterdam

Muchbeta

Poke

Firstly, a thanks to all those who have made our second summer so much fun. Milltag would not exist without your custom, support, photos and ideas.

That’s not to say that we are done for the year, oh no, we’ve got a few more projects on the go which will have you forwarding links to family and friends in time for Christmas (sign up to our Newsletter on the homepage and you’ll be first to hear about them). We’ve got our Halloween special glow-in-the-dark Tee (below) that is only available till the end of the month. And, we will also of course be producing [...]]]> As the road cycling season has drawn to a close, I feel now is a good time to fill you in on all our latest happens chez Milltag…

Firstly, a thanks to all those who have made our second summer so much fun. Milltag would not exist without your custom, support, photos and ideas.

That’s not to say that we are done for the year, oh no, we’ve got a few more projects on the go which will have you forwarding links to family and friends in time for Christmas (sign up to our Newsletter on the homepage and you’ll be first to hear about them). We’ve got our Halloween special glow-in-the-dark Tee (below) that is only available till the end of the month. And, we will also of course be producing the “Draw a Bike” print and Tees (with all profits going to charity), expect these to be announced in about a month so you’ve still time to enter your drawing.

This week also saw our very own Pete Kelsey appear on The Bike Show radio show to talk about PBP. You can listen to the show here. For those of you who bought one of The Bike Show jerseys (and anyone else), there is an organised ride planned from London to St. Albans and back on Sunday 6th November (full info here). While on the subject of The Bike Show jerseys, I know it’s well in October now, but I am yet to announce the winner of September’s Owner’s Gallery jersey….Graham Faragher taking a well earned snooze in his TBS number. Well done. Send your pics to ed@milltag.cc and you too could win another jersey in October’s competition.

Now is probably a good time for all of you that may be involved in a cycling club that we are only too pleased to help design and produce full team kits, so if you are thinking for a change for next year, get in touch and we can help you get a kit that will have other riders blue with envy. We guarantee that you will not get better quality for your money!

One last thing before I go, a gentle reminder for all those about to get back on the track….

If you fancy a print of this homage to the Kubrick epic, let us know and we’ll get a few printed up and in the shop! Ed

Here’s Pete’s film about the 1200km that were Paris-Brest-Paris 2011.

Towards The Ocean – PBP 2011 from Milltag on Vimeo.

See the Road.cc piece about the film here.

Peugeot bronze dipped thing?!

Felt’s Red Baron!

The Moonlander by Surly.

Words fail me.

Electric bike, Storck style!

Felvobike’s “Orca”: Brilliant! We want one (after the Cervelo R5ca, of course!)

Just a quick update on a few of our pre-orders that folks are waiting for:

THE BIKE SHOW: Shipped out this week, so if you haven’t got them yet, they are on the way. If you don’t receive yours by next Friday (UK) or in 10 days (Rest of World), please contact us and we will do the work of tracking them down. Sorry these are a little later than expected, but to make up for it you get the signed limited edition Rich Mitch screen print!

THE WEDDING PRESENT, KEEP CALM and GB LEGENDS: Due to arrive at Milltag HQ in about a week to 10 days time, they will be shipped immediately they come in.

I think that’s it for now. Don’t forget to take a picture of yourself in your new [...]]]>

Just a quick update on a few of our pre-orders that folks are waiting for:

THE BIKE SHOW: Shipped out this week, so if you haven’t got them yet, they are on the way. If you don’t receive yours by next Friday (UK) or in 10 days (Rest of World), please contact us and we will do the work of tracking them down. Sorry these are a little later than expected, but to make up for it you get the signed limited edition Rich Mitch screen print!

THE WEDDING PRESENT, KEEP CALM and GB LEGENDS: Due to arrive at Milltag HQ in about a week to 10 days time, they will be shipped immediately they come in.

I think that’s it for now. Don’t forget to take a picture of yourself in your new jersey when it arrives and we’ll pop it on our Owner’s Gallery and perhaps you’ll win a new jersey for your trouble!

“I completed Paris Brest Paris in just over 78.5 hours, arriving back at 1.50am on Thursday August 25th.

These bare facts that can’t possibly convey the highs and lows of this most epic of cycling events. I’ll post a full ride report a little late when i’ve had a little more time to reflect on the event, and there is a film in the pipeline too. For now I’m just glad I made it, relieved it’s over but mostly delighted that all the effort, training and preparation paid off. It’s time to reacquaint myself with the family now, safe in the knowledge that as far as cycling goes I’ve completely emptied the tank on the roads of Northern France.

Bon Courage.”

Well done Pete, we [...]]]> News from our Audax Adventurer came in last night:

“I completed Paris Brest Paris in just over 78.5 hours, arriving back at 1.50am on Thursday August 25th.

These bare facts that can’t possibly convey the highs and lows of this most epic of cycling events. I’ll post a full ride report a little late when i’ve had a little more time to reflect on the event, and there is a film in the pipeline too. For now I’m just glad I made it, relieved it’s over but mostly delighted that all the effort, training and preparation paid off. It’s time to reacquaint myself with the family now, safe in the knowledge that as far as cycling goes I’ve completely emptied the tank on the roads of Northern France.

Bon Courage.”

Well done Pete, we salute you sir!

Using bright colours and geometric shapes I’m really taken with these prints. I’ve just got to work out which to buy  (here).

Here are my favourites:

On finding our he had been victorious he said “Can’t believe it – I am delighted! I have been sitting at my desk since 11 this morning on standby! My wife told me I was sad, but I have the last laugh now!”

Well done David. Here’s what we’ll be making for you….

RESULTS (Top 15):

1. David Devennie 13:20:21 (0.00) 2. Daryl Stickings 13:20:30 (+0.09) 3. 44/16  13:20:31 (+0.10) 4. Bradley, Dean 13:20:32 (+0.11) 5. David Bamber 13:20:34  (+0.13) 6. Tom Graham 13:20:44 (+0.23) 7. James Dick  13:20:52 (+0.31) 8. Ant Meek  13:20:52 (+0.31) 9. Seth Pistol 13:20:58 (+0.37) 10. Sarah Bibby 13:20:59 (+0.38) 11. Simon Morton 13:21:00 (+0.39) 12. Joshua Roberton 13:21:01 (+0.40) 13. Jørgen [...]]]> David Devennie won the first ever Milltag Email Sprint comp and wins an ultra special edition jersey. His email came through just 8 seconds after our email was sent!

On finding our he had been victorious he said “Can’t believe it – I am delighted! I have been sitting at my desk since 11 this morning on standby! My wife told me I was sad, but I have the last laugh now!”

Well done David. Here’s what we’ll be making for you….

RESULTS (Top 15):

1. David Devennie 13:20:21 (0.00)
2. Daryl Stickings 13:20:30 (+0.09)
3. 44/16  13:20:31 (+0.10)
4. Bradley, Dean 13:20:32 (+0.11)
5. David Bamber 13:20:34  (+0.13)
6. Tom Graham 13:20:44 (+0.23)
7. James Dick  13:20:52 (+0.31)
8. Ant Meek  13:20:52 (+0.31)
9. Seth Pistol 13:20:58 (+0.37)
10. Sarah Bibby 13:20:59 (+0.38)
11. Simon Morton 13:21:00 (+0.39)
12. Joshua Roberton 13:21:01 (+0.40)
13. Jørgen A. Flor  13:21:04 (+0.43)
14. Ewan 13:21:15 (+0.54)
15. Joe McTaggart 13:21:21 (+01.00)

I was searching the New Order Catalogue for a suitable title for what may be my last post before I head off for Paris. Trouble was, there were to many to choose from…Confusion, Paradise, Regret – check…Every little counts, Sooner than you think, Let’s Go, Round and Round – oh yes. I think we have a contender for our next music inspired jersey. Anyway, it’s a little over 3 weeks now to the start of PBP, too late to change anything now, not going to become a super grimpeur overnight now so best to focus on the challenge ahead and prepare mentally as best you can. It’s said that the challenge of long distance riding is only 10% physical, and 90% mental and I guess there is something [...]]]>

I was searching the New Order Catalogue for a suitable title for what may be my last post before I head off for Paris. Trouble was, there were to many to choose from…Confusion, Paradise, Regret – check…Every little counts, Sooner than you think, Let’s Go, Round and Round – oh yes. I think we have a contender for our next music inspired jersey. Anyway, it’s a little over 3 weeks now to the start of PBP, too late to change anything now, not going to become a super grimpeur overnight now so best to focus on the challenge ahead and prepare mentally as best you can. It’s said that the challenge of long distance riding is only 10% physical, and 90% mental and I guess there is something in that but this kind of thinking is often spouted by people with a lifetime of miles in their legs already. Considering my own experiences this year I’ve often felt best at the end of the ride, knowing the end is in sight and particulary on the harder, longer rides. And, as we all know, to finish well is all that really matters.

Two quick ride reports to cover, firstly the Dunwich Dynamo which was one of the best events I’ve taken part in this year, or any year. Good weather, great company and a helpful tailwind meant I arrived at the beach before sunrise with only a handful of riders ahead of me. I’ve never enjoyed night riding but this was a different experience with so many people on the road and a good stead pace set by my riding companions. Definitely one I’ll be doing next year, but this time with all the Milltag crew (that means you too, Ed). Then, last weekend I took on the Ditchling Devil, a 200 km audax ride from Wimbledon down to Brighton and back through Surrey, finishing in my old training patch Richmond Park. Should be a walk in the park, if you pardon the pun, but with 2700m of climbing including Ditchling Beacon there was enough in there to keep you on your toes. The weather was perfect and a scenic route and more fine company made for another grand day out. There were plenty of other PBP’ers out there as well, some posting furious times for the ride but for me a steady finish in the first dozen with a time of 9 and a bit hours was none too shabby. However, I did feel totally exhausted at the end, none of that ‘could ride it all again’ bravado. I guess it comes down to the mental preparation I alluded to above – if you know you are doing 100, or 200km you work to that distance. If you are doing 1200km you’re just mental.

So, as i approach journey’s end for this little adventure time for a little reflection. Here are my personal highs and lows of my cycling year so far;

Highs

- Getting a medal at the end of The Beast – C’mon, we all love a medal don’t we?

- Finishing each of my qualifiers well inside the time limit, sometimes strong and sometimes not so;

- The great people I rode with along the way, including Milltag man JB;

- Realising we live in a beautiful country, much underrated – get on your bike and see for yourself; and

- The Dunwich Dynamo, just about as enjoyable an 8 hours as I’ve ever had on a bike.

Lows

- 4am alarm calls, too many to mention;

- Salisbury Plain, 280km into the Beast – the closest I’ve come to packing;

- Indigestion, back pain, numb hands – the usual Audax stigmata; and

- Leaving the family alone for countless weekends – long distance cycling is a distinctly un-family friendly pre-occupation.

So in 3 weeks time I’ll be in Paris preparing for my own Grand Depart, one of the 380 UK qualifiers in a field of 6,500 brave souls, all with their stories as to how they ended up there too. Over 80 nations are represented in Paris -Brest-Paris, truly a global celebration of 2-wheeled suffering –  a world in motion. Wish me Bon Courage, rest assured I’ll be back here to tell the tale.

To win, simply make sure you are signed up to our newsletter (on our homepage) and wait for this week’s newsletter to arrive in your Inbox (usually Friday lunchtime GMT). Then, email me (ed@milltagcc.com) and the first person that I receive said email from, wins the jersey – an email sprint competition if you will!

We’ve only got a couple of mediums left and we won’t be making any more, so…. you know the rest….. buy, buy, buy! ALLEZ!

Ralph (Waste) and Rayman (McFaul) hit the roads in their Milltags (not sure who the other dude in the shades is!). Thanks for these pics go to Rebecca Cleal.

Save a cyclist campaign is all about changing peoples’ attitudes towards cyclists. We need people to be able to relate the “annoying” cyclist to the man he saw shopping with his family earlier in the day. We need them to see cyclists as human beings as well! ”

This is the idea behind the Save A Cyclist campaign and here at Milltag we are proud to be official [...]]]> “No matter whether you’re a pro or an amateur cyclist, everybody has experienced some kind of abuse, near miss, accident, injury or even the loss of family members or friends because of careless drivers. We all know the punishments for motorists who injure or kill cyclists on our roads are no way near severe enough. So what can we do to make a change?

Save a cyclist campaign is all about changing peoples’ attitudes towards cyclists. We need people to be able to relate the “annoying” cyclist to the man he saw shopping with his family earlier in the day. We need them to see cyclists as human beings as well! ”

This is the idea behind the Save A Cyclist campaign and here at Milltag we are proud to be official supporters. We’ve been working with Amy this week to design a special cycling jersey (below) that it now available to pre-order on the Save A Cyclist website: http://saveacyclist.co.uk/cycling-jerseys/

As the site says:

“We have teamed up with Milltag to bring you some high quality, high impact, well designed cycling jerseys so that you can help to promote road safety on your bike. The slogan has been adapted slightly [from their T-shirts] so as not to be antagonistic to drivers but to encourage them to give you space as they pass. Although wearing the jersey won’t make much difference to the attitudes of the most ignorant of drivers, it will help to re-establish a good relationship between cyclists and other drivers whilst casually reminding those that may get too close that you need room. I genuinely believe that the majority of incidents happen because drivers don’t realise that we need space on our bikes, or think that we don’t mind them getting close as long as they don’t hit us! The cycling jersey perfectly emulates what the campaign stands for; mutual respect on our roads.

Pre-order today!

The design is available in yellow, pink and red and we are now taking pre-orders so that we can get an idea of how many people want to buy them. The pre-order period will run until Monday 1st August, after that it will be around 4-5 weeks for the jerseys to be manufactured and sent out. If you pre-order today, you can guarantee that you will be one of the first to wear one of these fantastic jerseys and do your part towards saving a cyclist (you might even be saving yourself!).

Contributing to a good cause

As a campaign we already support the Dave Rayner fund and the Braveheart fund through our T-shirt and car sticker sales. We feel that contributions from the cycling jerseys should go to a cause that will benefit all cyclists that may have to deal with any legal issues surrounding road safety. We have therefore decided to support the CTC’s Cyclists Defence Fund who are on the front line helping to fight for cyclist’s rights. A donation of £10 per jersey will be donated to the fund.”

We are really excited to be involved with this campaign, so much so that as well as designing the jersey we dropped everything to start creating a new brand! Expect to see and hear a lot more about it in the coming months.

Hello world, it’s been a little while since I was last in touch. Here’s what i’ve been up to as the weeks count down to PBP. Having qualified and been issued with a frame number (no. 5652, fact fans) there’s no turning back now but motivation has been an issue. That and the glorious Summer weather we’ve been having. Anyway, I planned some mountain biking in Wales with the kids in early June but the presence of proper hills rather put them off the idea of this so we had to curtail the trip after 25km’s or so. The following weekends were taken up with family camping trips, the Bristol show and other real life responsibilities that somehow prevented me from getting on the bike for any serious milage for the [...]]]>

Hello world, it’s been a little while since I was last in touch. Here’s what i’ve been up to as the weeks count down to PBP. Having qualified and been issued with a frame number (no. 5652, fact fans) there’s no turning back now but motivation has been an issue. That and the glorious Summer weather we’ve been having. Anyway, I planned some mountain biking in Wales with the kids in early June but the presence of proper hills rather put them off the idea of this so we had to curtail the trip after 25km’s or so. The following weekends were taken up with family camping trips, the Bristol show and other real life responsibilities that somehow prevented me from getting on the bike for any serious milage for the rest of June.

Thankfully, i’d planned my own ‘Velodrome to Home’ ride last Friday. I rode over to Euston to catch the early train to Manchester, then wheeled up to the velodrome in time for the 10am Vets session. This was my first experience as an ‘accredited’ rider, get me! Well, it was a blast – good company, strong riders but after two hours of hard riding I was just a little jelly-legged. Only the matter of 380km to ride left to get back home…it’s going to be a long day.

I headed out of Manchester, along the A6 and the incessant traffic towards the hills. Up to Buxton, through the high peak and down to Ashbourne. It looked a good route on paper but the reality was a little different, a lot of heavy goods traffic and the Friday afternoon commute made for heavy going. Onwards through Staffordshire, a wrong turn requiring a further 15km along a dual carriageway and my mood darkened further. I eventually arrived at my planned overnight in Coventry some 8 hours and 180km after leaving Manchester. A shower, dinner and bed. Almost immediately it seems, the alarm goes off at 4am and i’m up again at first light for the second leg.

Well, at least it was quiet at that time in the morning but after 110km i’d had enough, I was just outside Oxford knowing there was 90km of traffic and the mid morning mayhem to get back home. I booked a train ticket and packed in there and then. Felt good about it too, you have to enjoy it otherwise what’s the point? The next 3 weekends bring The Dunwich Dynamo, a 180km night rode from London to the Suffolk coast, followed by a 200 km audax ride London – Brighton – London including Ditchling Beacon from both sides, and a PBP ‘tune-up’ audax 230km ride. Other than that i’ll do some gym work, lay off the booze a little, watch The Tour, try and earn a living.

I got knocked off my commuter bike a couple of weeks ago, by another cyclist! Some k**b riding the wrong way suddenly appeared between two cars and I went right over his back wheel. The result was a bent frame, totally unsalvageable. But, a silver lining was provided by our good friends at Brother Cycles who provided a replacement fame (one of their samples) and built the bike up for me with lots of shiny new parts. I’ll upload a couple of photos once I get a chance but so taken with it that I am considering doing the Dynamo on it this weekend. Never ridden more than 25km fixed so 180 might be a bit strong but hey – nothing ventured, nothing gained. That’s the spirit.

As an avid listener  (before switching over to watched the Tour) I managed to get a mention for our Pixies jerseys and the upcoming designs for The Wedding present! If you want to listen again to their cycling ramblings amongst top tunage then get over to the BBC iPlayer and listen to Wednesday’s show (we get a mention at about 37.30!) It was a brief bit of fame but I’m going to enjoy it…. and the jerseys are in the post chaps!

Now you can get a jersey so limited that only you will own it! Following the comments and emails wanting us to make a Keep Calm & Pedal On jersey we thought it would be nice to give something back and let you choose what it says on the back. So for £70 you get the standard “Pedal On” text, but for an extra £10 you can have any 10 characters you want! So “Keep Calm Eat Cake” “Keep Calm Drink Tea” or even “Keep Calm Kick Ass” are all now possible!!!

Orders being take now (pre-order), delivery expected by end of August 2011. Available in Men’s and Women’s sizes from Small to XL.

Head here to see and order…

Here’s how it works

We already have our Wiggo and Cav jerseys, but we have assigned the other 10 Milltag jerseys to our favourite riders in this year’s Tour de France, a kind of Milltag fantasy pro team if you will. The team is made up of 4 GC contenders, 4 all rounders and time trial specialists, 2 sprinters and 2 super domestiques. Here’s a list of the riders, the jersey they are riding for and their category;

B Wiggins Wiggo II (GC)

M Cavendish Manx Missile [...]]]> With the tour due to start tomorrow, anticipation has reached fever pitch here at Milltag HQ. So much so that we’ve gone a little crazy and devised a competition with the only winner, you the loyal customer.

Here’s how it works

We already have our Wiggo and Cav jerseys, but we have assigned the other 10 Milltag jerseys to our favourite riders in this year’s Tour de France, a kind of Milltag fantasy pro team if you will. The team is made up of 4 GC contenders, 4 all rounders and time trial specialists, 2 sprinters and 2 super domestiques. Here’s a list of the riders, the jersey they are riding for and their category;

B Wiggins Wiggo II (GC)

M Cavendish Manx Missile (Sprinter)

A Contador Tommy (GC)

T Hushovd McHoy (Sprinter)

A Schleck McFaul (GC)

P Gilbert Leinz (GC)

T Voeckler Rich Mich (AR / TT)

F Cancellara Will Manville ( AR / TT)

J Voigt Rob Trigg  (Super Dom)

T Martin MWM ( AR / TT)

G Thomas Waste (Super Dom)

E Boasson Hagen Piascik ( AR / TT)

Or visually something like this:

The Offer

Ok, so far so good. Now here’s the offer part – each day we will reduce the price of that riders jersey depending on their performance in the day’s stage.

The price reductions are as follows:

£5 off the jersey any for a stage winner;

£5 off for wearer of the yellow jersey on any single day;

£2.50 off for wearer of polka-dot, green and white jerseys on a single day:

£2.50 off for a GC podium position on any single day;

£5 off for yellow jersey retained after 3 consecutive days;

£2.50 off for wearer of polka-dot, green and white jerseys retained after 3 consecutive days; and

£2.50 off for any GC podium position retained after 3 consecutive days;

Small Print

Only one £5 discount per rider per day (eg. if Wiggo wins the TT and wears the yellow jersey, he will only attract a single £5 discount that day

For the team TT, all riders in winning team £5 off, so if SKY win then the Wiggo, Waste and MWM jerseys would all attract the £5 discount

Prices revert back to normal on Monday July 25th. Please remember all our jerseys our strictly limited editions so the later you leave it the more likely that your desired size could be out of stock.

All profits from the sale of the ‘Tommy’ jersey will still be donated to the Wouter Weylandt fund.

And that’s it. Bon Chance! It’ll all become clear once the racing starts!!

STAGE 1: Won by Philippe Gilbert (£5 off Leinz). Third for Thor Hoshovd (£2.50 off McHoy). White jersey for Geraint Thomas (£2.50 off Waste).

STAGE 2: Hushovd takes Yellow jersey (£5.00 off McHoy). Team Sky third (£2.50 off Wiggo II, Waste and Piascik)

STAGE 3: No positions effect prices (although Thor retains Yellow)

STAGE 4: Thor still in yellow for third day (£5.00 off McHoy), Super G still in white for third day (£2.50 off Waste).

STAGE 5: Win for Cav (£5.00 off Manx Missile). Thor retains yellow.

]]> http://milltag.cc/news/peloton-price-is-right/feed 1 http://milltag.cc/competition/twitter-follower-giveaway http://milltag.cc/competition/twitter-follower-giveaway#comments Fri, 01 Jul 2011 07:23:42 +0000 Ed http://milltagcc.com/?p=1965 We hit 1,000 this week and to celebrate we are giving away a jersey, print and stickers to one lucky person.

And that person is….drum-roll please…… Jon Griffin aka @JontyGriff from Ramsgate in Kent.

Please DM me Jon and I’ll get the goodies off to you. Well done.

The next milestone will be 5,000 and we’ll do it all again.

Here’s what the jersey would look like:

Just add a vote by commenting at the bottom of the post and if there’s enough interest then I’ll get it up for pre-sale and get it made. Over to you.

Sadly, due to family illness, the Draw a Bike project will not be used to produce a print for Artcrank London in August.

Instead, we have decided to extend the entry period till later in the year and then produce a T-shirt with all the drawings on. Then, all the proceeds will then be going to Cancer Research.

So, whether you class yourself as an artist or think you can’t draw for toffee, we want you to email in a drawing of a bike (my quick sketch is above) and as it’s for charity there is NO EXCUSE.

Email me (ed@milltagcc.com) with your picture (one colour please) by the end of July (or post on our Facebook) and we’ll then produce a screenprint with every bike on it. We will also produce an [...]]]>

Sadly, due to family illness, the Draw a Bike project will not be used to produce a print for Artcrank London in August.

Instead, we have decided to extend the entry period till later in the year and then produce a T-shirt with all the drawings on. Then, all the proceeds will then be going to Cancer Research.

So, whether you class yourself as an artist or think you can’t draw for toffee, we want you to email in a drawing of a bike (my quick sketch is above) and as it’s for charity there is NO EXCUSE.

Email me (ed@milltagcc.com) with your picture (one colour please) by the end of July (or post on our Facebook) and we’ll then produce a screenprint with every bike on it. We will also produce an extra special jersey or two and give them away to our favourite drawings!

Please spread the word, tell your kid’s school, your cycling club, your mates in the pub. Let’s try and get as many drawings as possible! What are you waiting for, grab your pens, crayons or paint and get to work!

If you prefer to send your pictures in the old fashioned way our address is: Milltag, 211 Westbourne Studios, 242 Acklam Road, London W10 5JJ.

ENTRIES GALLERY

Andy Ainger

The Foot Down

Louise McCall (Patisserie Cyclisme)

Tim S (I said one colour though Tim!! – Ed)

Phil Crow

Leinz

Menno Anker (using the SnowDrift App)

James O’Loughlin

Ischa Dassen

Colin Dassen

Cate Cowburn

Chris Piascik

Matt Giordano-Bibby

Wade Stevens

Andy Reeve

Andrew Thorpe

Lindsay Nelson

Louis Morgan (Age 7)

Jayme Morgan

Estelle Morgan

Lizzie Campbell

Nick Soucek

Jamie Ludlam

Claire-Jane Beaumont

Paul Hargreaves

Caitlin Mendrick

Paul Williams

Sandra Scally

Matthew Fortey

Euan Lindsay

Stuart Lindsay

Alistair Lindsay

Ben Spurrier

Ryan McKee

Paul Churchill

Chris Mawson

Our man James Bowthorpe managed to clock up a stonking 670km during his 24 hour roller ride in the window of Look Mum No Hands yesterday. Chapeau to you sir, a legendary performance and glad Milltag could be part of it….er, you can keep that Tommy jersey by the way.

He was originally aiming to complete 300 miles (500km) but i guess he must have got carried away – come on, we’ve all done it, and added an extra 170km just for the hell of it. ID magazine were covering the event so we’re looking forward to seeing the Milltag range in all it’s glory, JB very kindly offered to road (roller?) test a few for the ride.

Respect is due.

You can also listen to The Bike Show’s interview with James on [...]]]>

Our man James Bowthorpe managed to clock up a stonking 670km during his 24 hour roller ride in the window of Look Mum No Hands yesterday. Chapeau to you sir, a legendary performance and glad Milltag could be part of it….er, you can keep that Tommy jersey by the way.

He was originally aiming to complete 300 miles (500km) but i guess he must have got carried away – come on, we’ve all done it, and added an extra 170km just for the hell of it. ID magazine were covering the event so we’re looking forward to seeing the Milltag range in all it’s glory, JB very kindly offered to road (roller?) test a few for the ride.

Respect is due.

You can also listen to The Bike Show’s interview with James on last week’s podcast at about the 18 hour mark here.

There are plenty of cycling blogs out there, including my own modest contribution to the genre here on the Milltag site but rarely do I find one that as entertaining, witty and evocative as this one. It records a recent trip from Paris to London, nothing so special about that except when you realise they are doing in on Penny Farthings!

What elevates this tale above the ordinary though is the authors’ musings on life, cycling, continental breakfasts as such like. Here’s a little taster –

“Todays’ ride was the best so far, we battled out of the Etap after a Spartan breakfast that would have been considered being put on a ‘special diet’ in Colditz, the drizzle lubricated our bearings and we were off up the N1 trying to get to [...]]]>

There are plenty of cycling blogs out there, including my own modest contribution to the genre here on the Milltag site but rarely do I find one that as entertaining, witty and evocative as this one. It records a recent trip from Paris to London, nothing so special about that except when you realise they are doing in on Penny Farthings!

What elevates this tale above the ordinary though is the authors’ musings on life, cycling, continental breakfasts as such like. Here’s a little taster –

“Todays’ ride was the best so far, we battled out of the Etap after a Spartan breakfast that would have been considered being put on a ‘special diet’ in Colditz, the drizzle lubricated our bearings and we were off up the N1 trying to get to Montreuil for lunch and… what a road. A surface that would bless Herne hill velodrome, the massive wheels of our Pennies glided (glode?) over the road, traffic was light and the road was straight, as straight as the Romans made ‘em in those days, destroying anything in their path, a bit like the M1 but without the traffic”.

So forget about the weather, settle yourself into a comfy chair and prepare to enjoy this tale of two-wheeled derring-do on the highways and byways of these fair lands.

A big thank-you to everyone who came along and said hello over the weekend, the show was a great success – small but perfectly formed. It was a pleasure to share the stand with our comrades from Brother, the frame and jersey collaboration looked awesome – the best in show (in a category of one). Special thanks to Will and James for manning the Milltag station in Ed’s absence, rest assured he was texting hourly from his secret poolside location. Finally, thanks to the junior Milltag team Jack and Sol for doing a sterling job promoting our wares. Here’s a couple more images of the show…

A teaser of what you can expect when the collaboration with Brother Cycles is unveiled in full at Bespoked Bristol this weekend.

Design by Milltag.

We are very proud to have joined forces with James Bowthorpe and his latest adventures, starting with design and jerseys for a 24hr cycle in the window of Look Mum No Hands next week! Here’s all you need to know about the event:

…BOWTHORPE RIDES AGAIN!… ROUND THE WORLD MAN BECOMES WINDOW DRESSING FOR 24 HOURS

Have you ever seen someone give a talk after they’ve been cycling for 24 hours non-stop? Here’s your chance.

James Bowthorpe will be cycling for 24 hours straightin the window of Look Mum No Hands! on Old Street, starting at 7.30pm on  Wednesday 15th of June and finishing at 7.30pm on Thursday 16th June.  He is aiming to ride 300 miles in the 24 hour period.

The start date is no coincidence – in one year’s time James will [...]]]>

We are very proud to have joined forces with James Bowthorpe and his latest adventures, starting with design and jerseys for a 24hr cycle in the window of Look Mum No Hands next week! Here’s all you need to know about the event:

…BOWTHORPE RIDES AGAIN!…
ROUND THE WORLD MAN BECOMES WINDOW DRESSING FOR 24 HOURS

Have you ever seen someone give a talk after they’ve been cycling for 24 hours non-stop? Here’s your chance.

James Bowthorpe will be cycling for 24 hours straightin the window of Look Mum No Hands! on Old Street, starting at 7.30pm on  Wednesday 15th of June and finishing at 7.30pm on Thursday 16th June.  He is aiming to ride 300 miles in the 24 hour period.

The start date is no coincidence – in one year’s time James will be starting the Race Across America, a non-stop 3000 mile race with a time limit of 12 days. He’ll need to be able to repeat this 24 hour feat 10 times with 1 hour sleep each day.

James will be riding a Qoroz road bike on a specially adapted training platform provided by Rollapaluza; a giant LED display in the window will show time and distance elapsed… can he manage it in time?

Please come along to cheer him on and countdown the final 30 minutes from 7pm on Thursday 16th June. Afterwards, James will give a brief and breathless presentation of his plans for the next 12 months, including a non-stop race across America, several non-stop mountain bike adventures in the UK and a multi-stop adventure down the Hudson River.

Since his record breaking ‘round the world ride in 2009 James has been busy. Busy building things, making a short film with a Mogwai soundtrack, guiding 25 cyclists from John O’Groats to Land’s End whilst feasting on local food, training for Paris-Brest-Paris and the Race Across America, writing articles for The Rig Out, Boneshaker Magazine and The Ride, and catching up with correspondence. He hasn’t done a talk for a while and after this one… well, who knows when the next will be?

WEDS 15th JUNE
7.30pm: 24 HOUR STATIC CYCLE STARTS

THURS 16th JUNE
7pm: THE COUNTDOWN!
7.30pm: THE DISMOUNT & PRESENTATION

For more info: www.jamesbowthorpe.com and on Facebook here

NB. Thankfully James loves the design we did for him! Good luck dude!!

I recently found these figures on Ebay and upon winning the auction found the seller to have recently bought a couple of our jerseys!

Paul currently sells the figures only on Ebay (here), but hopefully we can help him get him his own website in due course. In addition, we are discussing the possibility of doing some Milltag specials in due course. Stay tuned!

Opening to the public on Saturday 11th-12th June, we will be showing off all our wears and you will be able to try them on before you buy! As a special incentive to get down there, we are planning special show only sale prices on all the jerseys so you could save some cash on the normal online price.

Also, and perhaps more importantly, the Brother Cycles x Milltag collaboration get’s it’s premier and with a fair few promo items hanging around the Milltag office at the moment it may be worth getting to our stand early to see what you could bag.

Unfortunately, not all [...]]]> I’ve mentioned it a few times already on here but it’s worth drawing your attention once more to our debut stand (with Brother Cycles) at Bespoked Bristol

Opening to the public on Saturday 11th-12th June, we will be showing off all our wears and you will be able to try them on before you buy! As a special incentive to get down there, we are planning special show only sale prices on all the jerseys so you could save some cash on the normal online price.

Also, and perhaps more importantly, the Brother Cycles x Milltag collaboration get’s it’s premier and with a fair few promo items hanging around the Milltag office at the moment it may be worth getting to our stand early to see what you could bag.

Unfortunately, not all Team Milltag are able to make it down to Bristol, but we’re sure the inaugural Bespoked will be a spectacular success. Just don’t forget your wallet!

Well, I did indeed survive the beast but don’t think I tamed it, more likely it tamed me. This was the hardest ride I have ever done and gives me plenty to ponder in the coming months. But, as all good ride reports should, I should start at the beginning.

Saturday morning, 4am alarm call, the usual drill except this time the starting point is Waltham Abbey in Essex rather than the now familiar Chalfont, adding the necessary 80km to the route to bring it up to and over the required distance for a PBP qualification ride. A smaller field of 50 or so this time, a determined looking bunch if ever I saw one. A ragged start at just after 6am and we were away, and I soon found myself [...]]]>

Well, I did indeed survive the beast but don’t think I tamed it, more likely it tamed me. This was the hardest ride I have ever done and gives me plenty to ponder in the coming months. But, as all good ride reports should, I should start at the beginning.

Saturday morning, 4am alarm call, the usual drill except this time the starting point is Waltham Abbey in Essex rather than the now familiar Chalfont, adding the necessary 80km to the route to bring it up to and over the required distance for a PBP qualification ride. A smaller field of 50 or so this time, a determined looking bunch if ever I saw one. A ragged start at just after 6am and we were away, and I soon found myself with a small group who were clearly looking to push on, With 300km’s to ride directly into the wind you need to work together and although the pace was more than a little fresh I knew the option of riding alone into wind would be far worse. A few short sharp climbs to negotiate as we headed out over the Chilterns, stopping only for a receipt at the first control, down into the Thames Valley and culminating in the 18% grind up Streatley Hill and the welcome sight of the 2nd control at 120km.

The Beast from the East has something of a reputation in Audax circles, a hard ride for sure but it’s perhaps more famous for it’s roadside catering and it didn’t disappoint with it’s hot drinks, kedgeree and all manner of other vital sustenance. However, it was still chilly with a stiff breeze blowing so rather than cool down it was back on the bikes and off again. We were the first group to reach the control and no-on else arrived during our brief stay, I was going to pay for that effort. Onwards then into familiar territory, the A4 west of Newbury to Hungerford and the 150km mark. I was done in and left the others to go on, I needed some time off the bike. 20 minutes later it was time to head off again, this time alone for the first time.

Payback was swift and merciless, once out of Hungerford the rode rose up and out onto the Salisbury plain and mile after mile of featureless landscape with no respite from the wind and rain. On and on, on and on. Those 60km took me 4 hours and took me back to my darkest hours on LEL. Not far from Warminster I was passed by 3 riders but i didn’t have the legs to jump on, it was to be a lonely few more hours for me. But, as with much of my audax experience, just when you think it can’t get any worse, it gets just a little better. Fortified by some warm food and drink, the first sign of sunshine, the early evening section across towards Taunton didn’t seem quite so terrible, the terrain rolling but never savage. I was hoping to catch a little of CL final in a pub somewhere but the option never materialised, I still wished I was at home with a beer watching it with the kids rather than being out on the road on a bike. I finally hooked up with another rider 15km out from the Taunton Dene Services control (301k), it was great to have company at last, and to know that we were now turning for home with the wind at our back. A quick meatball panini, marvellous stuff, and by 11pm we rolled out for the final leg of the day.

Almost immediately, we’re going up the longest climb of the ride, Angersleigh Hill but for once it has come at a good time in the ride and 15 minutes of hard effort were followed by what felt like 40km of swooping descents on wide deserted roads. We rolled into the scout hut Yeovil (345km) at around 12.30, the designated sleep stop. Many 600km rides have no such luxury but this, and the catering, are one of the big attractions on this ride and were especially welcome after a day like this. 8-10 riders were already asleep, by 1am i’d bagged myself a spare judo mat and so was out like a light.

3.45am. I’m awake again, other riders were stirring so it’s time to grab a quick breakfast, repack the bike and head home. I went outside, cool, dry and only a light breeze, and waited for other riders to emerge. I felt ok for the first 50km or so, even the long drag uphill to Shaftesbury didn’t bite too much but sometime around 6am I was struck down with an attack of the ‘dozies’, finding it hard to control the bike or keep my eyes open. I was on my own having been dropped off the back of the fast group I started with, I stopped at the next village, nothing open at that time so I fell asleep on a park bench leaning on the bike. 5 minutes later I woke with a start and thought i’d push on but by the time I got to Salisbury I was in trouble again. Civilisation, in the form of a 24hr garage came to my rescue. A strong coffee and another 10min nap sorted me out and once back on the road the strengthening tailwind blew me all the way for the next 40km. I passed many of the rides who’d leapfrogged me on my unscheduled sleep stop, arriving around 9.30am at the next control in Middle Wallop, a tented field kitchen serving one of the best cooked breakfasts i’ve ever eaten.

There was a real sense of esprit de corps in that tent, shared between the riders, the kitchen staff and helpers (all of which are riders themselves and knew how we were feeling). I’d ridden with a few people that morning as i’d dropped back and then passed through again and this was the first time for many of us to regroup and chat about the ride so far. You get some curious types on audax rides but everyone I met on The Beast typified what I respect about this form of bike riding; decent, self reliant, modest yet tough as hell. It was hard to leave that haven of civility but off again we must. Although there was still 180km to go, it was only 10am, there was a tailwind and we’d seen off the hills hadn’t we? Not a bit of it. Once past Andover we hit a series of long uphill climbs and single track descents, more like a mountain bike route and particularly wearing as the afternoon dragged on with progress slower and slower. I was on my own, one or two riders came past but this was terrain where it was every man for himself. Still, I was managing to navigate well with no wrong turns in the first 500km and eventually piloted the bike to the next control in Winnersh, near Reading at around 1.30pm. I’d been here on my last 3 rides and it was great to be back on familiar territory. We were treated to a country park cafe as the official control, but my mood soon darkened when faced with a 20 minute queue to order food and get the required receipt. Still, only 100km to go now, much of it very familiar so getting home should be a formality.

10km after leaving the control, I was lost – heading towards Maidenhead, a route I’d ridden 3 times before, but still managed to miss a turn. I caught up with the Thames Velo club run who got me back on track after an 8km diversion. Maidenhead then, finally, only 35km from home, but 85km riding left to do to the finish. Met up with an American rider i’d chatted to at the start and at various controls, he was going well and would be good company for the closing sections so we teamed up to tackle the stiff climb up from the Thames at Bourne End to the A40 and the Chilterns beyond. I put some effort in and seemed to lose my new companion, not concentrating I turned right at the roundabout as I usually do and headed off down the road. I checked where the other rider was, nowhere to be seen, probably gone to the garage. Another couple of km on and i’d realised I was going the wrong way. And so it carried on for the next couple of hours; steep, narrow lanes, getting lost, treacherous descents, mounting frustration. It was all probably very lovely in an English Early Summer kind of way but not for me. I thought I was nearly home but the Beast was showing it’s claws just when you thought it had done with you.

Salvation appeared in the form of the penultimate control near Aylesbury (560km). There were many of the riders I’d met early on in the day and a chance to swap tales of navigational misery helped get over the previous hours trauma. A hot chicken curry dinner left me feeling pretty perky and we formed a group of 4 for the final leg, safety in numbers. Immediately we were going up again, more of the seemingly endless supply of short, steep lanes the organiser had found for us, all +10% gradients but by now i’d finally found my climbing legs and was up front on each climb. Finally it flattened out by St Albans and were finally, truly, on the run for home. I hit the front and pulled the group along, ratcheting up the pace; 30km, 35km, 40kmh – I looked back and there was only my American friend left hanging on. This is not the done thing on an audax ride, I should have eased off so we could all help each other out and i’m not too proud of that, but we’re 600kms in and it’s get home as best you can. We shared the work as the final kms ticked by, it was an exhilerating, adrenaline-fuelled rush to the finish. All pain, all fatigue, all tiredness had gone and for a brief moment this man had become a machine, I had crossed the rubicon. And then, finally it was over. 37 hours and 10 minutes after leaving we screeched to a halt outside the arrivee. But, a final treat awaited for me at the end with the presentation of a Willesden SR series medal for completing their PBP qualification rides. It’s only a dodgy bit of brass but it meant a lot at the time and will do for a while to come.

So, that’s it. I’ve qualified for PBP, the effort now is to maintain the fitness and motivation over the next few months before August. I’ve signed up for a few more rides before then so expect more tales from the darkside. The Beast was a tough one for sure, but I leave you with the words of philosopher Hannah Arendt to ponder,

‘There is no lasting happiness outside the prescribed cycle of painful exhaustion and pleasurable regeneration and whatever throws this cycle out of balance, such as an entirely effortless life where boredom takes place of exhaustion… ruins the elemental happiness that comes from being alive’.

Amen to that.

Forget your Tour Riders.

Forget your Rainbow Stripe wearers.

Forget your Medal Winners.

We’re talking, of course, about the true champions of the chainset, the princes of the puncture repair kit, our saviours in so many times of need.

In recognition for the sterling work they so tirelessly toil over to keep us on the road, ladies and gentlemen, it’s time to finally honour the humble local bike shop.

“Project Bike Shop” is an opportunity for local bike shops across the world to collaborate with us and have a limited edition jersey produced.

How it works

We will work with bike shops together with a local artist to design a jersey celebrating the shop and local area. The template for the jersey [...]]]> Here at Milltag, we think it’s about time we celebrated the true heroes of cycling.

Forget your Tour Riders.

Forget your Rainbow Stripe wearers.

Forget your Medal Winners.

We’re talking, of course, about the true champions of the chainset, the princes of the puncture repair kit, our saviours in so many times of need.

In recognition for the sterling work they so tirelessly toil over to keep us on the road, ladies and gentlemen, it’s time to finally honour the humble local bike shop.

“Project Bike Shop” is an opportunity for local bike shops across the world to collaborate with us and have a limited edition jersey produced.

How it works

We will work with bike shops together with a local artist to design a jersey celebrating the shop and local area. The template for the jersey is slightly different from the blank canvas we usually start with as each jersey will include a panel across the front with the name of the town, city, area on it (obviously in a style that would properly tie in with the rest of the design) and the store gets room for their branding on the sleeves. The production costs are split between ourselves and the store and the finished jerseys would then be available for sale in their individual shop and also our online store for cyclists locally and across the world.

So, the store gets a truly one-off product championing their local area (guaranteed to be a hit with local cyclists) and free global advertising from us. The local designer gets a free jersey; their jersey available to their town’s cyclists and the rest of the cycling world; and a bike shop that’s now forever in their debt!  Sounds like a win/win situation to me?

Want to get involved?

Just email me at ed@milltagcc.com

Let’s get talking and make it happen.

Capturing pro-cycling through art is never easy – the bicycle is often quoted as one of the most tricky things to draw, along with horses and hands, however, I digress –  Jeff manages to achieve this so well. I sincerely recommend if you are in London to head to LMNH and see them in person, they are beautiful and painstakingly detailed.

You can see more of Jeff’s work at www.jeffparr-veloart.com

Another taster of the collaboration between ourselves and Brother Cycles ahead of the Bespoked Bristol show in two weeks time. The jerseys are done and the frame is currently being finished….

As she says: “Over the last few months I have got to know lots of fantastic cyclists from all around the country, we all share a love of the bike but also the cake and the coffee, so I thought it might be good to pool ideas, reviews, routes and good tech services and shops on Posterous as it’s a great platform. Twitter is great but here we can add more in depth info, cakes and hopefully plot an interactive map along the way.”

Next time you plan a ride, make sure you check there’s a decent cake vendor on the way, there’s even an interactive map!

We recently completed a run of jerseys for the London Fixed Gear & Single Speed Forum and here it is in all its glory.

Designed by Matt Giordano-Bibby as an homage to WWII fighter pilot jackets, it features all the usual Milltag features and is made with our new Eschler fabric.

Don’t forget that if you want us to produce any number of custom jerseys for your club, charity or whatever, just get in touch with me at ed@milltagcc.com and we can get you decked out, I’ll even help you with the design (no other jersey company will do that for you!) Click on the Design? tab above for more details and to download our template and do some design yourself.

We all love being out on our bikes – the open road, the sense of purpose, the glorious weather…wait a moment. Anyone who was out this weekend might be wondering where summer went to, seems like we’ve fast forwarded straight to late Autumn and as for that wind, God help me next week on my final qualifier if it’s anything like that for the 300 kms out to Taunton. Anyway, I made it out on Sunday and revisited much of the Silly 50 route that caused me so much trouble back in March, this time without the same anguish so a couple of thousand km’s of riding since then seems to have paid off. Next weekend it’s the Beast From The East, my final 600km PBB qualifier. Expect a ride [...]]]>

We all love being out on our bikes – the open road, the sense of purpose, the glorious weather…wait a moment. Anyone who was out this weekend might be wondering where summer went to, seems like we’ve fast forwarded straight to late Autumn and as for that wind, God help me next week on my final qualifier if it’s anything like that for the 300 kms out to Taunton. Anyway, I made it out on Sunday and revisited much of the Silly 50 route that caused me so much trouble back in March, this time without the same anguish so a couple of thousand km’s of riding since then seems to have paid off. Next weekend it’s the Beast From The East, my final 600km PBB qualifier. Expect a ride report sometime soon after I have regained the feeling in my hands.

I felt ok after my hilly 120km spin on Sunday morning but wouldn’t have fancied much more in those conditions. PBP qualification rides are being held all over the country now with 400 and 600kms ride most weekends, reading these ride reports fills me with a mixture of admiration for those taking part and dread that it may well be me next going through that same suffering. And then, I read this:

WARNING: If you are offended by foul language, do not read on. This post contains excessive, unimaginative, repetitive and uncensored use of the word ‘f+*k’.

“We spent Friday night at the Alfreton Travelodge. It was fucking awful. My room had a squeaky floor, a squeaky bed and squeaky neighbours. I don’t know how the fucking bed had any springs to squeak as it was so soggy I woke (more than once) with the kind of backache that only square-faced Swedish masseuses with the build of a boxer and brutally firm fingers can cure. Still, the ride was advertised as a bit of a breeze, with 2425m climbing. Perfect knee therapy for this flatlander. Like shite was it.

Being a world class sucker (of wheels, among other things) and a sucker for a tailwind, we set off, at the very civilised hour of 14.30, plied with CAKE from the good ladies of Alfreton CTC and, well, whored it along. Chris S was running a very manly 83″ gear and I was making full use of 50×11 on the geared bike. Despite minor niggles (Oddly bulging sidewalls, dropped waterbottles and brevet cards) we hammered it to Howden rolling in at 6pm. Nice. I felt ‘a bit funny’ with the recently extracted tooth making it’s absence felt. We made the aquaintance of Maidenhead Phil and ms (you never mentioned you lurked here- and I was wearing The Kit, and everything…), failed to have a MacD (closed for refurb) and set off again. A bit quickly. A flatlander train. It was fucking lovely to see Crinkly_Lion. She had fucking delicious scones and cakes and flapjacks, and I took some for ‘ron. (Y’know, lateron).

Out of SB with a smile then, and it just all went a bit downhill. Though of course, downhill would’ve been fine. No, what we had was fucking up hill. It was like a fucking wall. Fucking Howardian Hills, no one told me about those. There was a 17%. That’s like, fucking chevrons. We got to Helmsley, and somehow, between going into the co-op and buying the second of a fucking endless supply of forecourt-esque ‘meals’, it became night. Because it had been ‘a bit rolling’ Chris flipped his wheel to a somewhat less macho 70″. This was indubitably ‘a good thing’.

Because the North York Moors are beautiful, we went through them in the fucking dark. Although, it wouldn’t have made that much difference in the day, as you had to constantly watch the road as the surface was fucking awful. My poor fucking arse.

I began to have a sense of humour failure. My wheelman was riding faster than my lardy legs could keep up with so I was left a little with my own thoughts and they’re not fucking nice. Heading into Staxton I had to pedal down the hill, and I was not fucking impressed, if I’d wanted to pedal downhills I’d've taken a fixed wheel bicycle, and I’m not fucking stupid enough for that.

I petulantly ate Yet Another Forecourt Snack and huffily brooded about Moor(sic) Hills To Follow. Fucking Staxton Hill is fucking steep and goes on for fucking ever. And is followed by fucking loads more fucking hills. I threw my toys out of the pram, I walked, I may (gasp) have said rude words. Fucking hills. I fucking wallowed over Real Life Issues, I failed to be friendly and supporting to my friends Real Life Issues, and was generally the worst company in the fucking world. It took fucking forever to get to the next Forecourt extravanza. In the fucking drizzle. Blowing a fucking gale. Feeling like fucking shite.

When I went into the garage, some people were already there and laughed. Apparently I had ‘a look’ on my face. Can’t think what. We were later than planned over the bridge, so missed Dawn in all her glory, and instead battled gusts. Barton is a fucking depressing town, isn’t it? The sun was shining but it took an eternity to get to Brigg, and there was still another (far too many) fucking km to Rosies. It was clearly a bit much for Chris, as at one point I had to shout at him to wake up, riding with your eyes closed isn’t a good thing. I scraped the bottom of the conversational barrel in trying to keep him awake- “O look, a bird.”  Also, I wasn’t the only one in a foul mood as he did announce to Gainsborough at large, that ‘I hate this fucking country, it’s got fucking shit roads, shit weather and fucking shit drivers.’

I was a little apprehensive about Rosie’s. Northerners, an all that, like. But actually, it was fucking fantastic, and really hit the spot. But there was still fucking 60km to go. With fucking wind. And fucking hills. I fucking hated it. That was before I met the fucking drivers. What a bunch of fucking twatts. Every fucking driver in the fucking county. Honestly. Fucking knobs. Fucking overtaking with no fucking regard for my fucking safety. Which I, being as I was fucking knackered, was fucking concerned about, as I was being blown all over the fucking road, by the fucking wind.

So, basically it was fucking shit.
Fuck qualifying. Fuck an SR. Fuck fucking PBP. Fuck Audax, tbh.”

There’s not a lot you can say after that. Thanks to the author for letting me reproduce their paen to misery.

May the wind always be at your back. See you again next week…

We always ask those that purchase one of our jerseys to send us a picture of them wearing it and over the last few months we have built up a bit of an album (it’s on Flickr). To reward such dedication to the Milltag cause we are going to run an ongoing competition ever two months where our favourite snap will win another jersey for their collection. So, the first date to get your entries in is the end of June, so get your jersey on, find a suitably interesting backdrop and get snapping. Entries will go up on our Flickr for all to see and judged by Team Milltag. And all the pics we’ve so far received are automatically entered to the first competition.

Above is Ian Darlington in his [...]]]>

We always ask those that purchase one of our jerseys to send us a picture of them wearing it and over the last few months we have built up a bit of an album (it’s on Flickr). To reward such dedication to the Milltag cause we are going to run an ongoing competition ever two months where our favourite snap will win another jersey for their collection. So, the first date to get your entries in is the end of June, so get your jersey on, find a suitably interesting backdrop and get snapping. Entries will go up on our Flickr for all to see and judged by Team Milltag. And all the pics we’ve so far received are automatically entered to the first competition.

Above is Ian Darlington in his Wiggo, Woodhill Mtn, NSW, (possibly the jersey furthest away from HQ).

JUNE 2011 WINNER: Kieran Kinsella in his Hellomatt.

Codenamed “Comrade”, we have been working on designs and products for the last few months that will deftly demonstrate our dexterity in frames and jerseys.

The project will be officially unveiled at the Bespoked Bristol Show on 11th-12th June where ourselves and Brother are sharing a stand, although stay tuned for a few more hints in the run up to the show.

Not much to add to what it says on the flyer other than I’ll be there, no doubt with the rest of the great and the good of London and beyond’s bike mafia. Beer and bike chat you say? …See you tomorrow!

His purchase process played out for all to read on Twitter….

27 Apr: “pre-ordered @milltag #ManxMissile! Finally found a jersey to recognise my #IoM roots. Top notch, early & self-awarded Fathers Day gift ”

5hours ago: “Got home to find my @Milltag Manx Missile arrived! Top notch. Finally I can show my allegiance to #IoM & the man himself @MarkCavendish”

3 hours ago: “This is for @Milltag #ManxMissile #IoM #IsleofMan @MarkCavendish http://twitpic.com/4wc90c note the gratuitous flag”

Cheers John and you can follow him on Twitter, he’s @ponnymeister

They were their to discuss the humble cycling jersey and it’s was a very entertaining listen, but I would say that, I’d happily listen to a radio station that purely talks about cycling jerseys!

Anyway, go have a listen here.

And thanks for the shameless plug Rich, and nice logo too!

There’s been a few changes here at Milltag HQ when it comes to our jerseys: we’ve made them better!

Over the winter we tried and tested a load of new fabrics, zips and production techniques so that the jerseys are up there with the best around. Firstly, and proudly, we have joined forces with the Swiss fabric kings Eschler. Ok, so you probably haven’t heard of them but rest assured, if you have worn a fair amount of technical fibres (who hasn’t?), then chances are it’ll have been made very close to a cuckoo clock or a chocolate bar over in Switzerland. This fabric is simply astonishing! It’s very light and wicks like nothing we’ve worn before.

Secondly, we’ve added new zips, especially designed to have the spirals on the inside, this [...]]]>

There’s been a few changes here at Milltag HQ when it comes to our jerseys: we’ve made them better!

Over the winter we tried and tested a load of new fabrics, zips and production techniques so that the jerseys are up there with the best around. Firstly, and proudly, we have joined forces with the Swiss fabric kings Eschler. Ok, so you probably haven’t heard of them but rest assured, if you have worn a fair amount of technical fibres (who hasn’t?), then chances are it’ll have been made very close to a cuckoo clock or a chocolate bar over in Switzerland. This fabric is simply astonishing! It’s very light and wicks like nothing we’ve worn before.

Secondly, we’ve added new zips, especially designed to have the spirals on the inside, this means the outside of the jersey is beautifully finished and adds to the stunning designs. And finally, we’ve improved the collar design by removing the excess fabric on the inside and making the fit that little bit more classic.

We’re really pleased with the results, hope you are.

As the world turned it’s gaze towards London and the Royal Wedding i had bigger things on my mind, my next PBP qualifier started the following morning, departing the now familiar Community Centre in Chalfont. The ride heads out through the Cotswolds and the Forest of Dean to Chepstow, then crosses the Severn Bridge before returning back via Malmesbury and along Thames Valley. A 400km ride is always a tough distance to cope with as it invariably means long hours on the bike with some amount of night riding to finish off with.

I’d decided on neither depriving the family of the car, nor waking then up at 4am clattering about getting ready so instead opted for the luxuries of the Premier Inn in High Wycombe the night before. A brief [...]]]>

As the world turned it’s gaze towards London and the Royal Wedding i had bigger things on my mind, my next PBP qualifier started the following morning, departing the now familiar Community Centre in Chalfont. The ride heads out through the Cotswolds and the Forest of Dean to Chepstow, then crosses the Severn Bridge before returning back via Malmesbury and along Thames Valley. A 400km ride is always a tough distance to cope with as it invariably means long hours on the bike with some amount of night riding to finish off with.

I’d decided on neither depriving the family of the car, nor waking then up at 4am clattering about getting ready so instead opted for the luxuries of the Premier Inn in High Wycombe the night before. A brief chance to pretend your a pro-rider, fiddle with the bike and repack the saddlebag (first outing for it this year, adding an extra 3 kilos) ready for the off. Woke up at 3.30am and fretted about the day ahead and then got up and out an hour later. It’s a gentle 15km trundle to the start and riding the Buckinghamshire lanes at that time just before dawn was a rare treat. I met up with more familiar faces at the start  but it’s generally subdued – it is 5.30 am after all. At last it’s 6am and we’re off, a field of 80 or so for this one.

400km is a long way, and unless you are super strong you need a different strategy to cope with it’s particular demands. For me this means cooling my guns at the start and easing back. The fast group that i’d ridden with on my previous rides headed off up the road whilst I held back for the next grupetto to form. I fell into conversation with the first rider to come alongside and rode on for an hour or so with a pleasant tailwind pushing us along. I though we were alone but when I looked round I found out we’d been towing about 20 riders since the start. The first minor disaster of the day was losing my routesheet trying to turn the page over, no-one stopped to help so I had to track back up the road to find it whilst the peloton pushed through, requiring a 15 min lung bursting time trail to reconnect with the group. The first control, in the beautiful town of Woodstock just north of Oxford, provided just enough time for cup of tea, strip off a few layers and refill water bottles and then head off alone. Almost immediately I met up with a solo female rider so we rode on together through the glorious Cotswold countryside.

Audaxes are friendly affairs, the distances involved invariably means you will fall into amiable conversation with whoever you meet. But, herein disaster lurks and so it was that I managed to miss a turn and took us 6km off route and uphill. So, retrace back to the last turn and start again. Fall back into conversation and miss another turn! Ok, it’s time to take control of this situation and ride off solo, I need to concentrate and get some distance covered. Stopped for lunch at the 2nd control at Twekesbury (is that how you spell it?), then off for the final wind-assisted leg to Chepstow. This proved to be a really scenic section towards Ross on Wye and through the Forest of Dean including some very lumpy bits, especially Symonds Yat, a monster climb topping out at around 20% in places. Still, i’d covered the first 200km in 8.5 hours and was feeling pretty good about the ride so far with little of the physical niggles i’d had on previous rides. The Chepstow control was at a Tesco Petrol station, ah, the glamour of it. There were plenty of riders there already, many of which i’d ridden out with at the start, but they started to drift away as I took a little extra time to cool down and try to eat something. Problem was, the hot weather and indigestion were getting the better of me and I couldn’t stomach anything except some water and fruit.

From Chepstow it’s straight uphill to the foot of the Severn Bridge and a vicious crosswind greeted me as I crested onto the cycleway leading to the bridge. Then, the feeling all cyclists dread as the back wheel goes slack. Puncture! My first of the season but the timing couldn’t be worse as i struggled to refit a new tube in the baking sun by the roadside. A problem with the valve meant I couldn’t inflate the tire no matter how hard I tried. Ok, try and stay calm…try again and fail. A rider comes past but doesn’t stop, but another pair do and they help me sort out the reluctant valve (good name for an indie band). Half an hour later and i’m back on the bike again, immediately i’m nearly blown off the bike as i gingerly cross the high span of the bridge. The ‘Welcome To England’ sign reminds me of my time on the LEL ride and I ruefully admit that by now my spirits have been somewhat dampned by the events of the last hour, and the certain knowledge that the 180km back to finish will all be against the wind.

I plod on, at least it’s getting cooler now but i’m feeling a bit rough, indigestion and subsequent lack of food beginning to take it’s toll. Still, it’s a beautiful evening by the time I arrive at the foot of the Somerset monument, the other big climb on this ride. I spot a rider in distress at the side of the road so pull over to help. He was doubled up over his bike and evidently in some difficulty, he eventually got back on and i offered to ride up the hill together but when I looked round at the summit he was nowhere to be seen. I’m feeling guilty now, should i go back? I pedalled on deliberating what I should do…and promptly missed the turn. I turn around, retrace and get back on track and immediately find the stricken rider still on the road. I apologise and make a promise to myself to help him to the next control at least. Alas, after another 5km’s he was off the bike again and this time had decided to pack in the ride, always a tough decision to make especially as he was hoping to qualify for PBP too. I bid farewell just as another rider came by the first for a couple of hours so i jumped on as he looked to be making decent progress (and had GPS).

As darkness fell riders stared to group together to make navigation easier and lend a hand to riders beginning to suffer as the miles take their toll. By the time we hit the final control at Membury Services (318km) I could finally stomach something more substantial than tea and wine gums. It was by now 11.30pm and riders were arriving all the time. Most, including me, had decided to take the A4 route back home – a tedious trudge along the main road through Newbury and Reading. The actual route would be impossible to follow in darkness without GPS and full lighting kit. The distances were exactly the same and on all audax rides the route sheet is for guidance only, so long as you pass through the controls in the given timeframe you can go whichever way you wish.

And so it was that our night train departed from Membury just before midnight. We were joined at the front by Mel, a seasoned audax pro with 3 or 4 PBP’s and countless 400′s under his belt. I fell into easy conversation with him up at the front, the  8-10 riders behind all glad of a chance to follow wheels and get some respite from the headwind. I was finally feeling good again and the miles flew by, riding off the front i’d occasionally turn round to see the lights behind me fading away, slow down us to regroup then hammer down again to keep up the tempo, we all just wanted to get back in now as quickly as possible. Once we hit Maidenhead I knew it was only 25kms to go, Mel came through and took off into the darkness, he’d done his bit pacing us all up to Membury and was obviously in good shape at the end. But so was I and one last effort got me back onto his wheel as we approached Slough, and making my apologies shamelessly took my first tow of the day for the final 10k back to the Control. They say to travel is better than to arrive but not in this case. It was a truly great feeling to finish this ride, and the joy continued when Mel offered me a lift home. I crawled into bed at around 5am and when I woke again it all felt like a dream…did I really ride to Wales and back yesterday?

Scores on doors: Distance 416km (inc. detours), Total time 21h 35mins, Av speed (rolling) 24.9kmh, Ride time 16h 50mins. Total ride 430km.

A 6am start meant an [...]]]> Saturday April 2nd marked the date of my second PBP qualifier, a 305km ride from Chalfont St Peter down to the New Forest and back. I was probably more anxious about this ride than any other for a while, i hadn’t been on the bike for a couple of weeks whilst it was being repaired as a result of a collision with a car on my way out to a club run. Prior to that I’d not been out since the ‘Silly 50′ ride i wrote about previously which ended rather badly and left me with more doubts than ever about riding these distances. With less than than 300kms in total for the month of March, I now had to cover that in less than 18 hours.

A 6am start meant an alarm call at 4am and a drive out to the start. Many seasoned audaxes would insist on riding to the start, why not make it a 400km? No thanks. It’s the same start point as The Willy Warmer ride I did in January, and although around 10degC warmer and 3 months later it was still in pitch black when i set off with the other 80 or so riders taking on the ’3 Down’. Every audax ride has a name, some descriptive, others whimsical – the ride I’ve booked for my 600 qualifier is  ’The Best From The East’. Best not dwell on that just yet.

The route took us from Chalfont to controls at Pangbourne – Kimbridge – Fordingbridge – New Arelsford – Winnersh and then back to the Arrivee. My rides tend to follow a similar pattern and this was no different, i got into the lead group with the quicks and had an enjoyable blast to reach the second control at 124km in 4hrs 24, a moving average of 28km/h, very fast considering we were running into  headwind for most of the route. It was a great pleasure to meet and ride with James Bowthorpe for this section of the ride. James is a world record holder for the fastest circumnavigation of the globe (176 days), and was using this ride as part of his preparation for his solo RAAM (3000km across America, 12 day maximum). So, pretty useful on a bike. He’s also very modest and approachable with a genuine passion for cycle touring, albeit at a rather fast pace. He had a lovely new Titanium quorz bike to try out which he’d only just built up that week, but the roads must have loosned a few screws as his seat fell apart on the long climb up to the Lambourne Downs. Thankfully we found all the parts and could re-assemble the seat clamp, and i could grab a little breather as the pace started to take it’s toll.

The headwind got up as we entered the New Forest and by now there were no more turns at the front for me,  i slowly slipped off the back to ride alone for the next 15km. I could have joined them again at the next control, but instead waved them away and took a little time to regroup. I was pretty shot, only 150km done but with pains in my back and knowing that the early pace would mean i was bound to pay the price later on. Still, I knew that if i could just hold on, take frequent short breaks of the bike and keep eating a little all the while then i could still get round. I set off alone through the quite stunning New Forest, and as we swung round at Linwood the headwind became a tailwind, my legs started to come back to life and my rolling speed on the flat was touching at 40km/h. No-one came past me all day until the penultimate control, where i met up with another of the lead group who’d also dropped off the pace. He told me that James had a double puncture on a descent and crashed into a ditch, but with only minor cuts and bruises he sorted out the bike and carried on, and was by then already an hour up the road.

It was good to have someone to ride with home as dusk descended, we chatted on not taking too much notice of the routesheet, feeling good that we’d made it through the day and the end was in sight. But, a sting in the tail as we missed the turnoff from Maidenhead back up to Chalfont. Not to worry, I knew a quick way back through Slough and Denham. I should have know better but after 13 hours on the road you just don’t think straight, and so it was that we got hopelessly lost, adding an extra 15km and at least 45mins to our finish time. But finish we did, in 14 hours 35 mins, 320km in total. Other stats of note; 3,500m of climbing, ride time 12’14″, calories 10,000+ and only the fourth time i’ve done a double century (200 mile) ride in a day.  Four or five riders had come in whilst we were lost in Slough, in addition to the lead group including James but still a worthy effort and one which has given me heart for the rides to come. You learn a little more each time you do a long ride, about what you can do, and about what you can’t. Next up, a lumpy 400km ride over to Wales at the end of this month. Bonne Route!

(ps – the title = Straight on at crossroads, signposted you have arrived! A maxim for life.)

Pour yourself a bidon of Merlot, dim the lights and click this link, you will not be disappointed. It’s 90 minutes very well spent. And there’s something about those old cycling jerseys that does it for me every time….

It’s been a while in the making but with the Spring on the horizon and the clocks forward it’s time to dust of your wheels and hit the road. And with a new cycling season, you’ll be wanting a new jersey to impress, inspire and illuminate.

Look no further than these four beauties…

Each jersey is inspired by a British cycling hero with great love and appreciation by our artists, and we really are truly proud of them.

As usual, the jerseys are manufactured in very limited edition runs so I must press upon you the importance of getting one as soon as you can or you will be disappointed. Once they are gone, they are gone forever.

Available for pre-order today, they will [...]]]> The wait is over for the first Milltag Series of 2011.

It’s been a while in the making but with the Spring on the horizon and the clocks forward it’s time to dust of your wheels and hit the road. And with a new cycling season, you’ll be wanting a new jersey to impress, inspire and illuminate.

Look no further than these four beauties…

Each jersey is inspired by a British cycling hero with great love and appreciation by our artists, and we really are truly proud of them.

As usual, the jerseys are manufactured in very limited edition runs so I must press upon you the importance of getting one as soon as you can or you will be disappointed. Once they are gone, they are gone forever.

Available for pre-order today, they will ship out in May ready for you to enjoy the sun. And ladies, this time you will not be missing out as all these designs can be purchased in a women’s specific cut. Just get in touch with us and we’ll make sure you get the right size.

Thanks and enjoy. Rule Britannia!

Welcome back, it’s been a while. The path to true cycling greatness never runs smooth as I was to discover this weekend. Since my last posting I should have been building on good early season form ready for the spring season and my next qualifiers. Alas, a mixture of circumstance and motivation meant that i’ve managed nothing more than a single training ride of 5okm and a trip to the Manchester Velodrome. I also went ski-ing for a week in Slovakia; fresh mountain air, vigorous daily excercise and leg muscle conditioning. Not a bit of it. Massive portions of heart-attack inducing food, beer and wine with every meal and general merriment means that i returned last week a few kilos over my fighting weight with heavy legs and decidedly out [...]]]>

Welcome back, it’s been a while. The path to true cycling greatness never runs smooth as I was to discover this weekend. Since my last posting I should have been building on good early season form ready for the spring season and my next qualifiers. Alas, a mixture of circumstance and motivation meant that i’ve managed nothing more than a single training ride of 5okm and a trip to the Manchester Velodrome. I also went ski-ing for a week in Slovakia; fresh mountain air, vigorous daily excercise and leg muscle conditioning. Not a bit of it. Massive portions of heart-attack inducing food, beer and wine with every meal and general merriment means that i returned last week a few kilos over my fighting weight with heavy legs and decidedly out of condition. I’d already signed up for the ‘Cheam and Morden Hilly 5o’, otherwise known as the Silly 50 so it was with trepidation that i threw my leg over the carbon horse and headed down to the start at the foot of Box Hill in Dorking.

The plan was to ride down to the start, a reassuringly reasonable start time of 10am gave me plenty of time to get there, sign on and get away. The ride was effectively one of my regular 90km out-and-back rides from home, with 5okm of the lumpiest bits of Surrey added on in the middle. The ride down was uneventful, still pretty cold but thankfully dry with little wind. I met up with a couple of faces i know from previous rides, there were around 200 riders taking part so the start was staggered, I set off in with the first group and pretty soon found myself in with four or five riders of a similar standard, at least to begin with. The course was not marshalled or way-marked, no sportive-friendly affectation here but for £2 what do you expect?, so there was plenty of map checking and a welcome chance for a quick breather. From Box Hill we went straight up the first of many, many hills to Ranmore Common, through Dorking and onwards towards Leith Hill, Pitch Hill and Ewhurst. Now, lets dispense the myth that there are no hills in the South East of England – in this part of England the North Downs really bears it’s teeth, there are no alpine like gradual climbs, it’s all up and down, steep and sharp leg shredders. After 3okm of this or so i was pretty cooked and dropped off the back of the group, subsequently got lost and had to use a main road to rejoin the mayhem.

I somehow managed to steal a km or two on my diversion as i was rejoined by my riding group at the bottom of Whitedown, the penultimate climb and one I was fearing most, with a max gradient of 18% for some sections. Well, I got up it but that was about all, the granny ring was all but worn out by this stage. Just 1okm to go and a fast run down the other side of Ranmore Common to the base of Box Hill from where we started. But the finish fittingly enough was atop Box Hill, a ride i know well, a gentle 2km ascent with 3 switchbacks to count you home. Having gone past my riding companions on the descent they all came past me one by one as i was pedalling squares. I got over the line in around 2 hours 10 minutes, with maybe a dozen riders ahead of me. Not a disaster by any means but i was feeling it and not really looking forward to another 45km to get home. With a huge queue for coffee and cake at the infamous NT cafe and no end-of-ride organisation to speak off i reluctantly pushed on home. I really could have used 30 minutes to rest and recuperate but i was getting cold and had to get back home.

Bad move, after 10kms or so i started to feel light headed, my legs had turned to jelly and riding a bike was becoming a distinctly unpleasant experience. It was ‘The Knock’. I’ve had this before, a combination of dehydration, hunger and fatigue and your body starts to give out. It was a hateful experience, as much a mental battle as a physical one as the mounting frustration of knowing you should be enjoying yourself, but clearly aren’t. It reminded me of my golf playing days. Onwards I toiled through Epsom and Oxshott knowing the promised land of the Costa Coffee in Esher where I could safely park the bike, sit down and get some food inside me. I can’t say that after a pot of tea, a blueberry muffin and ham and cheese panini all was right with the world but i could at least contemplate the last 15km home. Into Richmond Park, granny gear up Dark Hill but at least managed to get some speed up on the run home as the legs started to come back to life.

So, what to conclude? Obviously i need to ride more, eat and drink more sensibly and keep within my capabilities. With a 300km qualifier in early April and a 400 at the end of that month i haven’t a lot of time to get myself properly in shape. I know that I can finish these rides in the time available, but my intention was always to finish well, not merely to limp over the line. Pacing is always an issue, I go off too hard at the start and suffer for it later on, something you can’t afford to do on a longer, multi-day event such as PBP. Mentally, when the going gets tough you need to stay positive and believe in your capabilities. Come August with 6000km in the legs this is perfectly reasonable. However, with just 70okm banked so far this year it’s proving harder to convince myself that this is going to be enjoyable experience. But, as an old audax sage once remarked ‘If you are having fun you’re not doing it right’.

[ Winter landscape, stolen shamelessly from swarm_catcher ]

Saturday morning, 5.45am. The alarm goes off but i’m awake already. It’s my first audax of the season, a 200km ride from Chalfont St Peter out to Hungerford and back again. It’s dark, damp and chilly when I arrive at the start point but no sign of the ice and sleet forecast. Say hello to a couple of familiar faces from the Willesden CC, looks like there’s going to be a decent turnout and sure enough by the 7.30 start there are 75 of us ready for the off. Now, the first thing to point out is that this is not a race, but for the stronger riders there is still plenty of kudos in finishing at the head of the pack. I found [...]]]>

[ Winter landscape, stolen shamelessly from swarm_catcher ]

Saturday morning, 5.45am. The alarm goes off but i’m awake already. It’s my first audax of the season, a 200km ride from Chalfont St Peter out to Hungerford and back again. It’s dark, damp and chilly when I arrive at the start point but no sign of the ice and sleet forecast. Say hello to a couple of familiar faces from the Willesden CC, looks like there’s going to be a decent turnout and sure enough by the 7.30 start there are 75 of us ready for the off. Now, the first thing to point out is that this is not a race, but for the stronger riders there is still plenty of kudos in finishing at the head of the pack. I found myself towards the front of a group being led out by an Willesden rider, we fell into conversation riding a nice steady tempo over the river and through Henley. Only two other riders were up ahead, a couple of steely looking fella’s from the Oxford CC.

Audax rides are oft described as scenic – this means quite roads, country lanes and usually a few hills. The Thames Valley is not exactly alpine but any audax will usually find a few spikes to test the legs, mine were feeling good and so it was that after 5okm or so i found myself out alone, soon to be joined by Rinus, a Lithuanian rider who like me rode the LEL as his first ever audax. We rode on towards the first control at Pangbourne, a group passed us on the climb up Whitchurch Hill but we rejoined them for the run into the control. 9.30am and 55 km down so time for a quick tea and a Toffee Crisp. One issue I was determined to address on this ride was spending too much time at the controls so after 10 minutes it was back on the bike and an immediate climb out of town to warm up the legs.

The next section took us over the Newbury plains and into Lambourne. In addition to the control points there are certain questions on your brevet card (see below) that need answering – another factor in addition to navigating but one that in reality adds a bit of interest as the km pile up. I managed to lose Rinus at some stage, I guess he needed to fuel up –  it’s perfectly acceptable on audax rides to push on and leave your riding companion to either join another group or ride solo. Audax is about self-sufficiency as a cyclist  - you carry your own stuff, navigate and ride long sections often alone with nothing but mounting self doubt for company. But, I was having a good day and hammered into Hungerford still riding strong. 110km done, 4hr 25min total inc. stops. The Oxford pair were long gone, I thought I’d be the next person in but a couple of SWRC riders had beaten me to it, they’d bounced the previous control and got in 10 mins earlier. I joined them for a quick lunch, turns out they were veterans of 5 or 6 PBP’s in their time and looked in good shape. They asked if i’d like to join them for the next section, or perhaps I just tagged along, but they were friendly, obviously very experienced and strong riders.

Off we set, it had warmed up a little, the sun made an appearance and all was well. The pace was a little fresh for me and I was being dropped on the short climbs but riding back on. After 30km I started to develop lower back ache, a chronic problem that has troubled me for a couple of years. Maybe I was paying the price for two quick stops and the brisk pace so I bid farewell to Alan and Paul, took a couple of Ibuprofen and had a quick stretch. Sometimes 5 mins off the bike is all you need and so it was that I pushed on to the next control, the Sainsbury’s at Winnersh. My riding was by now pretty feeble but still no-one else came past me – where was everyone? Remas (who’d bounced the Hungerford Control) plus the SWRC  were just leaving as I arrived but there was one other bike there, a hand-built Cooper fixed. He must have been some rider to have pushed that round and so it was that we rode out together for the last section, I never got his name (another Audax tradition) but he was a recent grandad and had come come down from Coventry that morning. Old School.

With the end in sight, and the light fading I got a bit of a second wind and dug-in, mindful not to let the fixed-with-no-name do all the work at the front. Onwards then through Bray and over Maidenhead bridge, back onto familiar territory. One final steepish climb to Cliveden and then a quick run-in back to Chalfont. I’d discovered a short-cut form the car park to the finish, through the allotments saving us a good 100 meters. And so it was that I led us home at just after 5pm, 6th back in a time of 9′ 35″. A welcome cup of tea and a quick chat with Remas and Alan, who thinks it might be my bike that is the cause of my back problem. And poor technique I think. Some work to do for sure but all in all a great day, lovely ride, good company and a some decent early season form to work on. Thanks to Paul Stewart of the WillesdenCC for organising it and to all I met along the way.

(This is a photo of Alan Parkinson’s brevet card, showing the times / controls and info mentioned above, click on the image to find his blog posting which includes the route and his ride data)

So how do I get the chance I here you cry? Well, anyone who buys one of our jerseys from now until Monday 17th January (at sale price too no less) will go into a draw and we’ll pick 5 lucky punters who will get a Tee packed with their jersey! Go luck….

The current issue of many a designer’s favourite monthly mag Computer Arts has a great feature on the inspiration that creatives get from the humble bicycle. Alongside wise words from Milltag’s own John McFaul is a snap of his jersey as well as the thoughts of our friends Gav Strange, Matt Taylor and Boneshaker mag. There’s even a page about our special chums at Artcrank!

As this is likely to be my final posting this year, I’d like to wish you all a Merry Christmas, all the best for a very prosperous 2011 and give another thank you to all those who’ve made Milltag possible, particularly our dedicated designers and pedal-pushing punters! See [...]]]> Not a bad way to celebrate the end of our first year in business with a bit of press….

The current issue of many a designer’s favourite monthly mag Computer Arts has a great feature on the inspiration that creatives get from the humble bicycle. Alongside wise words from Milltag’s own John McFaul is a snap of his jersey as well as the thoughts of our friends Gav Strange, Matt Taylor and Boneshaker mag. There’s even a page about our special chums at Artcrank!

As this is likely to be my final posting this year, I’d like to wish you all a Merry Christmas, all the best for a very prosperous 2011 and give another thank you to all those who’ve made Milltag possible, particularly our dedicated designers and pedal-pushing punters! See you in the New Year and keep some of your Christmas pennies spare as there’s every chance that there will be some serious Milltag bargains to be had on our return.

In the shop and available now. Be quick as we’ve only bagged ten to sell here and we expect them to sell quick.

We tried long and hard to think of a suitable Pixies-based pun to use and the best we could come up with was “This Milltag’s gone to heaven”!

It’s been quite a while since I’ve posted anything so here’s a quick update of all things Milltag.

I should probably start by saying that the next week is your last chance to buy the perfect gift for the design conscious cyclist in your life. What are you waiting for? Get to it quick and receive one of the last few numbered prints and I’ll even throw in a few stickers. The jerseys are also individually wrapped and come in a Milltag tube so you don’t even have to do any difficult wrapping yourself! If you prefer to see the jerseys in the flesh and try them on, for those in London you can head over to my favourite bike shop Push in Newington Green. I’d also recommend that you go [...]]]>

It’s been quite a while since I’ve posted anything so here’s a quick update of all things Milltag.

I should probably start by saying that the next week is your last chance to buy the perfect gift for the design conscious cyclist in your life. What are you waiting for? Get to it quick and receive one of the last few numbered prints and I’ll even throw in a few stickers. The jerseys are also individually wrapped and come in a Milltag tube so you don’t even have to do any difficult wrapping yourself! If you prefer to see the jerseys in the flesh and try them on, for those in London you can head over to my favourite bike shop Push in Newington Green. I’d also recommend that you go there this Saturday in particular as they are having a bit of a birthday bash to celebrate their first year and have some exclusive bike based prints for sale. Sales pitch over….

Looking to 2011, we’ve quite a few ideas in the pipeline that include doing a line of women’s specific jerseys in collaboration with another brand who are expert in all things gorgeous for the lady on two wheels! We are planning to release Series Three in about March/April in time for the new season but I’ll have some more news of this in January. Suffice to say that the ideas I’ve seen at this stage continue to astound and astonish!

There will also be a few surprise issues along the way such as the new jersey we are releasing very very shortly that is a collaboration with one of our favourite bands of all time. I can’t give the game away just yet but  “Oh My Golly!” I’m so proud of it!!

And finally, as we come towards the end of our first calendar year I’d like to give a truly sincere thanks to all of those beautiful people who bought one of our jerseys. Milltag was born in our minds a long time before we actually started selling and to find that your ideas have a real place in such a crowded industry has been at times quite overwhelming. Cheers to you all!

We were proud to donate a signed Wiggo and a RichMitch jersey for the auction and were blown away my the £300 and £225 respectively paid for them.

Judging by these pics it looks like Deano really got into his role as host – I guess his spot on the ITV’s Tour of Britain coverage will do that to a man’s confidence, or was it booze?!

Next year I hope we’ll be able to do more to help out and I can be there to enjoy the cycle and booze myself.

Anyway, as I was wearing a Milltag jersey (Leinz) I thought it was a prime opportunity to get a few decent pics done (just like RichMitch a couple of weeks ago). Unfortunately, not wishing to employ a proper snapper I got the Mrs to have a crack. Well, I know it’s not easy, and I know I was motoring, but…. well judge for yourself….

…Happy Anniversary Mrs C. Love ya! x

The show is notable for us as collaborator John McFaul has produced a frame to match his Madchester jersey.

All I can say is: a) can I have one; and b) can we do frames to match every jersey we have?!

Anyway, it’s at Dray Walk Gallery off Brick Lane so get yourself down there… CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO

The movie follows the HTC Columbia team throughout the 2009 Tour with unfettered access to all the stars and crew… and it’s simply stunning. Seeing the sport on a huge screen really was something to behold. The only disappointment is that it’s now nine months till it kicks off again and I’m going to have to hire a cinema for the duration to get the same experience!

The show was followed by a suitable entertaining Q&A hosted by Phil “The Voice of Cycling” Liggett with the director Jason Berry, Mark Cavendish and the real scene-stealers Brian Holme and Rolf Aldag.

Big thanks go to Le Dossard Quarante-Neuf for taking me with him after he [...]]]> Last night I was privileged to be at the International Premiere on the Tour De France epic “Chasing Legends”.

The movie follows the HTC Columbia team throughout the 2009 Tour with unfettered access to all the stars and crew… and it’s simply stunning. Seeing the sport on a huge screen really was something to behold. The only disappointment is that it’s now nine months till it kicks off again and I’m going to have to hire a cinema for the duration to get the same experience!

The show was followed by a suitable entertaining Q&A hosted by Phil “The Voice of Cycling” Liggett with the director Jason Berry, Mark Cavendish and the real scene-stealers Brian Holme and Rolf Aldag.

Big thanks go to Le Dossard Quarante-Neuf for taking me with him after he won tickets and for chance to meet Cav (See signed ticket!) Check out his site and keep an eye out for his cycling hero prints, as they’re great!

Now go buy the DVD and watch Panzerwagon, Prince Harry and Captain American in action!

We’ve sold out of Mediums, but still have Large and Extra Large available. Get them quick though as once they’ve gone, they’ve gone for good! Click here to buy.