Milltag

April Tourist Trophy

Ed — Fri, 10 May 2013 20:06:02 +0000

Gavin’s journal of completing a different county each month of 2013*, last month…Cranborne Chase to the Jurassic Coast and back again

It must be spring, not only was the April TT ride the first all-day ride of the year, but it was also part of the first camping weekend of the year. A mate and his kids were coming along too so on Friday afternoon we jumped in their campervan/caravan combo and headed west.

The campsite was just over the border in Dorset, a place called Wigbeth, not far from Cranborne. As night fell, I was glad of the campervan rather than my tent as the temperature dropped to zero overnight. As dawn broke there was sunshine and broken cloud so just the arm and knee warmers, and a waterproof, rather than full winter kit.

After breakfasting in the caravan while arranging to meet my friends for lunch in Lulworth Cove, I hopped on bike and headed out of Horton. I slowly climbed gently rising and falling downland hills to the B3081, which would take me towards Shaftesbury. I was able to spin the big ring, maintaining cadence but my speed ebbing and flowing with the undulations. I crossed the border over into Wiltshire as the hills got tighter and the valleys narrower, until I passed through Tollard Royal and started the climb over Cranborne Chase. Reaching the summit I rode the boundary of Wiltshire and Dorset, riding the ridge as if surfing a wave, the land dropping away on my right to the West Wiltshire Downs, and the Dorset Downs to my left.

It was to my left that I turned after winding down Zig Zag Hill, for the long run down to the Jurassic coast. But first I needed to get up the 1:6 incline of Spread Eagle Hill. Something I noticed in Dorset was that roads signs used the old ‘one in something’ notation for hills rather than percentages and also measured distances down to quarter miles. When road signs measure quarter miles you know that life can be taken a little slower. A quarter mile doesn’t mean anything speeding along in a car, but it means something on a bike or on foot. Another thing I noticed is Dorset is very green, Wales green rather than Sussex green, like it rains a lot.

Anyway I digress…over the top of Spread Eagle Hill and past Compton Abbas airfield, the road was a gentle decline for a good few miles meaning I could crank up the pace a little bit, to make up time for all the stops to take photos in the previous hour. North of Blandford Forum I turned right and headed for Durweston, and Winterborne Stickland beyond that. It was nice to finally be on smaller lanes, cycling is always best on roads with no road markings. If it’s yellow on an OS Explorer map then it’s probably worth riding. Most of the ride so far had been on orange roads on the OS map, minor B-roads, which were relatively empty but still some fast moving traffic. My scribbled route notes for the next 7-8 mile stretch simply said “follow river winterborne” so I was surprised to find that the River Winterborne was little more than a ditch (a picturesque ditch, but a ditch nonetheless), and often not visible from the road. However, the place names along the way ensured I headed in the right direction, first to Winterborne Whitechurch, then Winterborne Kingston.

At Winterborne Kingston I missed my planned turning so I ended up riding past a traffic jam on the A31 for a few hundred yards before passing through Bere Regis, rather than skirting around the edge of it. Out of town up Rye Hill I then followed a long, straight, and relatively boring, but fast section of road leading to Wool. Along this stretch there’s an army tank training camp, a shooting range, a small airfield and Monkey World – there’s a low budget disaster movie in there somewhere?!

From Wool the road to Lulworth is a bit lumpy, up and down through farmland, before a fast descent to Lulworth Cove in time for lunch. Along the way my friends passed me in the campervan so I knew I must be keeping good time. I chucked my bike in the van, swapped cleats for trainers, pulled jeans over my lycra, and we retreated to the nearest (and only) pub for lunch. Rather than jumping straight back onto the bike, after lunch we wandered down to the Cove, and then over the cliff path to Durdle Door.

Back on the bike I started the second leg (or stage, seeing as it’s now grand tour season) of the ride, back up to Horton via Corfe Castle. After the steady climb from Lulworth Cove it was past Lulworth Castle and through more army tank training land in a heavy rain shower and a strong headwind (unpleasant flashback to last month’s ride along Military Road). The landscape changed from heathland to dense woodland to open fields and hills as I neared Corfe Castle. The dark clouds passed and the sky turned clear blue again. The stretch of road between Creech and Corfe Castle with it’s tight hairpin up over Ridgeway Hill was lovely in the sunshine.

To avoid the A351 I took a bit of a looping detour across Middlebere Heath, where the landscape changed again, to wide open heathland covered in gorse with views of Corfe Castle silhouetted against the horizon. I rejoined the A351 near Wareham when it started to rain again, so I just got my head down and rode as fast as I could to the junction a few miles up the road where I knew I would get off the main road again. It stopped raining as I passed through Organford and over the A352, and into Lytchett Matravers. I could see the sky darkening again and as I darted off down a lane out of town as another heavy rain shower started. It didn’t last long and soon stopped as I whizzed along the narrow lane, ending up unexpectedly on the A350. A quick look at my route notes and I realised that I missed a left fork due to a no through road sign at the junction (on closer inspection of the map I probably could have got through on a short section of bridleway).

After a short blast along the A350 and I was back on route as I turned off for Sturminster Marshall. Over the River Stour I rode along the flood plains, under clear blue sky again, to Wimborne Minster. From here it was a few miles through Furzehill and Holt back to Wigbeth through Horton. As I neared Horton I could see dark black clouds again so I upped my speed hoping I could race the clouds back to the campsite. I lost! As I entered the edge of Horton village the heaviest hail shower I’ve experienced started. Massive hail stones bounced off the road, the bike, my helmet (interesting sound!) for a couple of minutes only, and then blue sky again!

Back at the campsite I saw a message on my phone saying “Your stuff is in caravan, it’s unlocked. We’re in the pub.” So I quickly got changed, and hopped back on bike for the half mile ride back up the road for dinner and a pint.

This ride reminded me (not that I needed reminding) why I love riding a bike. There’s something beautiful and enlightening about a day ride over a long distance in Britain. The landscape changes so much, as can the weather, and you’re in it, feeling and smelling it all. One minute you’re riding in sunshine with a smile on your face, the next you’ve got your head down cursing the wind and rain water is dripping in your eyes. Every time your legs ache and you think about stopping you come across a gentle descent so you can freewheel for a bit. Or maybe I loved it because it was the first proper ride in sunshine and warmth since last year. It feels decadent to ride out early morning and not get back until early evening, like you’ve wasted an entire day. Except we all know that riding a bike is never, ever, a waste of a day!

http://app.strava.com/activities/50991915

Ride Stats:
Miles: 92
Feet climbed: 5000
Average speed: 15.7 mph
Rain showers: 3
Local ale drunk: 1 x Badger Brewer’s Bee (lunch), 1 x Ringwood Best (post-ride)
Camera used: Holga 120
Film used: 2 x Kodak Portra 160

*There are some additional rules that you can find at http://road.cc/content/forum/72631-2013-roadcc-tourist-trophy

About Gav

I spent most of my childhood riding the streets and woods of surburban Surrey on various bikes. Stripped down and rebuilt a couple of bikes, spraying frames with cans of paint from the local car parts shop, picking the lugs out with Airfix enamel paint. I snapped the forks on my little brother’s Grifter by taking on the biggest jump on the BMX track we made in the woods.

Things got a bit more seriously after watching Robert Millar in the 1985 Tour De France on Channel 4. After that, I rode miles and miles around Surrey, Hampshire and Berkshire on a Peugeot Equipe, with a school mate who raced for Woking CC. In 1987, the distances got larger and I managed to get as far as Cornwall & back. Soon after, I bought my mate’s Raleigh Sirocco when he joined VC Meudon and upgraded his bike ( the Zap jersey in my photo is from that era!). Circumstances changed in the early 90s when I went to art school in Kent and sold road bike in favour of a Marin Palisades MTB.. I rode that around for a few years and gradually drifted away from cycling – sticking to two wheels, but Vespas and Lambrettas.

Fast forward to 2010 and the road bike bug started again. Then In 2011 having got a digital T, I caught the Tour for the first time in years and decided it was definitely time to get a road bike again – a Trek 1.1 in the sales, thinking I might not get back into it seriously. Ridden it 6000 miles, changed the wheels, worn out 3 chains and 3 cassettes. I currently live by the sea and dream of having more bikes.

Follow Gav: www.themanfromicon.tumblr.com

The Dope Bottle

Ed — Thu, 09 May 2013 22:33:21 +0000

We’ve just added our limited edition Dope bottles to the shop here, but have you ever wondered how they print on bidons? We have (yes, we need to get out more), and we thought we’d share it with you.

The fine chaps at The Bottle Factory turned this job round in super quick time so that we’d have them for last week at Spin London and they look great.

The process is the same as any other screen-printing but with one difference, the bottle is turned as the ink is applied.

Milltag x Wiggle

Ed — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 07:12:29 +0000

We are proud to announce our first major retail deal with online cycle giants Wiggle.

We are extremely excited about partnering with Wiggle and are even more pleased that they are big fans of what we do here, so much so that we have structured a deal that is little different from the normal. Rather than just have them take designs that are available at other smaller retailers, we have designed an exclusive Wiggle-only range.

The range starts with four items as follows:

National Jersey Collection

Finally patriotism can look cool. Milltag’s Wiggle exclusive take on the Great British and Belgian national team jersey. Inspired by the simple clean lines of the 60s but in 21st century fabrics and without sponsors logos spoiling the aesthetics. Ride with pride. These are the first two of a series of Nationals, look out for more later in the year.

GB National Jersey £54.00

Belgian National Jersey £54.00

Limited Edition Vital Organs Jersey

Is it possible to create a stylish cycling jersey with a road safety message? We think so.

Spring Classics Tee

To celebrate the start of the season, Milltag brings us this Wiggle exclusive strictly limited edition t-shirt.

The design was inspired by a quote from Bernard Hinault after riding the Tour of Flanders: “I told the organisers it wasn’t a race but a war game. It’s hard to explain what the Koppenberg means to a racing cyclist. Instead of being a race, it’s a lottery. Only the first five or six riders have any chance: the rest fall off or scramble up as best they can. What on earth have we done to send us to hell now?” It led us to re-imagining the riders as World War II fighter pilots, dog fighting their way across Northern Europe.

Spin Urban Bike Show

Ed — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 06:55:03 +0000

This Friday we are at SPIN London – the worlds’ first urban focused bicycle consumer show & festival, making it’s debut in East London on the bank holiday weekend of 3^rd, 4^th, 5^thMay.

We’ll have plenty of stock at special prices and would love to talk to you about custom kit or anything Milltag. We’ve also got some special limited edition Dope bottles to celebrate our collaboration with local bike store brick Lane Bikes. We’ve not got many so better come down to guarantee getting your hands on one!

Where

Set in the historic hotbed of consumer cool & street culture at The Old Truman Brewery in East London, SPIN London promises to be the hottest ticket the city has to offer for cycle traders, enthusiasts & the general public. The nearest station is Shoreditch High Street (Overground) or Liverpool Street (Underground).

Looking for a new bike, want to update parts or accessories?

Unlike other mainstream bike trade shows SPIN London sharpens the focus on the urban cycling scene by embracing the most progressive, forward thinking international brands & smaller independent makers in Fixed gear, Single Speed,custom & BMX bikes.

Alongside this hardware are emerging cycle fashion brands, apparel & accessory retailers and creative talent from this exciting urban cycling subculture. This creative cyclic cacophony will congregate to discuss & share ideas & bring their unique products and spirit to the London public.

Listen, Look, Eat, Drink; a cycle feast awaits!

Londons’ best emerging DJ talent will be playing music live throughout the show & festival. Cycle-Art Installations, talks, screenings and satellite events will all run parallel to compliment the show festival experience, essentially creating an ad-hoc, subversive, sub-level village for the discerning urban cyclist! Join us you cultured bunch you!

For more information about opening times and what’s going on go to spinldn.com

March Tourist Trophy

Ed — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 06:20:20 +0000

Gavin’s journal of completing a different county each month of 2013*, last month…Isle of White.

There was much deliberation about this ride. Firstly, I needed to find out if the Isle of Wight is part of Hampshire. If it was, I’d be breaking one of the rules of the Tourist Trophy: only two neighbouring counties allowed (invoking a sub-rule that East and West Sussex count as one county), and I’ve already used up Surrey and Kent. After some research it appears that the Isle of Wight is a county in its own right, or enough websites deemed it so for me to decide I wasn’t breaking any rules. Also the BBC weather website refers to the “County of the Isle of Wight”.

The weather was the other variable that had to be considered. The revolting weather that Britain has been enjoying this spring was continuing, it would be wet and windy for the planned weekend of the ride. However, it did seem it would clear eastwards during the day so, I optomistically decided that if I left a bit later it might be half decent by the time I got to the island.

The gamble paid off! It was hideous as I headed across West Sussex and Hampshire by train, but by the time I got to Portsmouth I could see blue sky and shafts of sunlight.

The ferry from Portsmouth arrived in Ryde (appropriately) where I disembarked as rays of sunshine burst between the clouds. I clipped in and rumbled along the wooden pier to the seafront, from where I climbed through town to the main road to Newport. There was very little traffic, and this pattern continued through the day, with long stretches of empty roads. One of the benefits of visiting out of season and on a weekend when the weather forecast was predominantly atrocious, I guess.

A few miles down the road I turned right for a short cut through a housing estate to catch the road to Cowes. For about 10 minutes it absolutely dumped it down with rain which was a bit concerning, but the shower finished as quick as it started. That was the last of the rain all afternoon. As I popped out onto the road to Cowes I spotted a sign with a bike overlaying a graphic of the IoW. Must be a bike friendly route into Cowes I assumed and darted off down the small lane. Two corners later I could see the River Medina down to my left as it should be. At East Cowes I tentatively boarded my second ferry of the day, the Cowes – East Cowes chain ferry across the river (wet metal gangway and cleated cycling shoes, not a good mix).

All of two minutes later I was back on the road, hugging the coast around Egypt Point heading for Gurnard Bay. There the road cut back inland and uphill. The next few miles were rolling, winding wet roads glistening sliver in the sunshine, though woodland and farmland, with occasional glimpses of the New Forest back on the mainland across the Solent. The road continued to roll up and down before a long gentle descent back to the coast at Yarmouth. From here it was back inland before arriving at the western tip of the island at Alum Bay for a view of The Needles. After a quick stop for a snack and a photo, I turned around and headed for the south coast down a fast, narrow, high hedged descent into Freshwater Bay, where waves were crashing onto the beach. This was an omen of what was to come…

I knew it would be windy all day, but the forecast indicated it would come from the south and south west all day. So I expected a headwind on the relatively sheltered north side as I headed west, but a tail(ish) wind on the exposed south coast.

Nope. As I crested the hill out of Feshwater Bay and the south west coast stretched out in front of me I was hit by a wall of wind into my face, when I expected a helpful shove over my shoulder. I had been warned to fear the wind on Military Road. Next time I’ll pay more attention. I’d rather forget the next 10 miles of so. It took the best part of an hour to cover this distance with the occasional obscenity hurled pointlessly into the wind. At one point, “Sod this, I’ll turn left and head back up to Newport and Ryde and get the ferry home” passed through my mind. Of course cyclists are stubborn, pain loving idiots sometimes (most of the time), so I didn’t. I carried on. It wasn’t pretty. Pedalling squares doesn’t come close. Then, I arrived at the bottom of the sharpest, longest climb of the day. Awesome, just what I needed. As I slowly ground (I’d like to say spin, but it was definitely a grind) up past Black Gang Chine I thought more about the fact I would have a energy saving descent down the other side. Which was almost true but for the headwind I encountered again as I topped out over the hill.

Despite the wind I managed to pick up quite a bit of speed in the run down into Niton. Unfortunately, due to a lumpy surfaced one way system and a junction, I couldn’t carry the momentum onto the next climb up through St. Lawrence. Then, followed another long descent down to Ventnor, where I swung down a 25% zig-zag road on to the seafront. When I originally planned this ride I intended to stop for lunch in Ventnor and partake of a local ale (a Tourist Trophy rule of my own). However, due to a late start because of the weather, and behind schedule thanks to 15 miles of headwinds plus hills, I decided to crack on. I also realised that there was no way I was going to enjoy the 25% climb out of Ventnor on a full stomach.

As I climbed (so very slowly) towards Upper Bonchurch I realised that I really did need some sustenance of some kind. As this thought formed I spotted a tea gardens on the other side of the road. Decision made, time for tea and cake…

Ah, the restorative powers of tea and fruit cake! Back on the bike, heading uphill and still into the wind, my legs were functioning again. The eastern side of the island is more populated than the western side so the towns started to come thick and fast. First up was Shanklin, which quickly gave way to Sandown. There was something slightly sinister and depressing about the deserted sea front road at Sandown, closed down amusements and hotels, and dirty white foam blowing off the sea over the promenade wall.

I followed the road as it turned away from the coast and rolled over some more climbs towards Bembridge. A scooter passed me leaving a trail of two stroke fumes, instantly transporting me back to sunny days riding a Vespa around the island during an August bank holiday scooter rally in the mid-90s. As I passed the house boats at Bembridge Bay I knew I was on the final stretch back to Ryde. It’s amazing how you forget how heavy and tired your legs are when you know you only have a few miles left. I suddenly found I had the power to sprint up the small hills puncheur style. OK, sprinting might be pushing it, but I wasn’t staring at the floor and turning over my lowest gear any more. I joined the main road into Ryde, flying down the hill towards the sea and the ferry terminal.

To follow Gavin’s route, check it out on Strava: http://www.strava.com/activities/44644347

Ride Stats:
Miles: 65
Feet climbed: 4400
Average speed: 14 mph (stupid wind)
Slices of fruit cake consumed: 1
Pots of tea drunk: 1
Bottles of ale drunk: 1 x Goddard’s Fuggle Dee Dum
Ferries taken: 3
Camera use: Holga 120
Film used: Kodak Portra 160

*There are some additional rules that you can find at http://road.cc/content/forum/72631-2013-roadcc-tourist-trophy

About Gav

Follow Gav: www.themanfromicon.tumblr.com

February Tourist Trophy

Ed — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 21:19:51 +0000

Gavin’s journal of completing a different county each month of 2013*, last month…Kent.

Back in the early 1990s I spent three years at art school in Canterbury, living in Whitstable in my first year. So, on this ride I would be riding some roads and visit places I once knew.

The planned ride would take me over the North Downs to the north coast of Kent, along marshland towards Faversham before heading south again and back over the North Downs. Much like a Sussex ride therefore, I would enjoy some lumpy hills, followed by a flat bit, and then more lumps. Geographically, Kent reminds me very much of East Sussex, more similar than West Sussex in fact. West Sussex wants to be South Surrey really! The main differences are East Sussex has sheep and farm houses, Kent has hop farms and oast houses (obviously that is a tad over-simplified but you get the idea).
It is a bit of a trek to ride all the way from Brighton to Whitstable and back, so I let the train take the strain as far as Ashford. Off the train, a quick glance at the map, and I was off. A short ride through the outskirts of town, and over the M20, and straight into country lanes. Rather than having to keep referencing a map, I had scrawled route notes on pieces of paper stuffed in a jersey pocket. After a few miles I realised my instructions of ‘first left after Hinxhill’, ‘right at end of road’, ‘second left’, etc, were all very well, but assumed I’d get the first decision correct. I thought I had better reference a map, check a name on signpost, and hope they corresponded. Fortunately they did. According to my notes two more junctions and I would have a short, sharp climb to contend.

As I turned onto the hill, I passed a couple of horse riders who, after a quick hello, said “rather you than me”. Oh dear, that obviously meant what I thought would be the top was probably a false summit. It was, and as I turned a corner the road continued to rise until it crossed the North Downs Way. The view behind me stretched all the way over the Kent Weald and Romney Marsh. After a brief flat section to catch my breath, I whizzed down a long descent before a few miles of gentle, rolling hills and rough country lane tarmac, before another short climb over Chartham Downs. From the top of the Downs I could see the Cathedral poking out above Canterbury. This clearly meant I was in for a few miles of freewheeling downhill into the outskirts of the city.

Nearing Canterbury I started to recognise roads, passing shops and pubs I once knew. A short ride through Wincheap (where I lived in my second year) I crossed the ring road, onto cobbled streets and beyond the city walls. I zig zagged through the city trying to find the cathedral thinking it a nice photo opp. However these days, unlike when I lived there, they now charge entry to the grounds of the cathedral. So, I took a photo of a gate and headed on through town, past a few pubs I frequented as a student. Over the River Stour I passed the house I lived in in my final year, and started the climb up towards the University (where I drunkenly attended many a gig) and Tyler’s Hill.

This road was part of my commute between Canterbury and Whitstable in the summer of ‘91, riding in the sun on a MarinPalisades listening to tapes of indie tunes on a Walkman. Rather than riding straight into Whitstable, this time I turned off towards Herne Bay, and descended by road through woodland I once rode around on the Marin at weekends. Exiting the woodland there was a short stretch across flat grassland, over the A2 and into the outskirts of Herne Bay.

Once into Herne Bay I caught my first view of the North Sea and dropped down onto the coastal path between Herne Bay and Whitstable. The rutted concrete of the coastal path wasn’t exactly skinny, high pressure tyre friendly, as I vibrated past Swalecliff (and past the holiday park where my grandparents had a static caravan in the 60s & 70s) and Tankerton before stopping in Whitstable for lunch.

Whitstable was where I drifted away from road cycling all those years ago, and bought my first mountain bike (a red Trek 810, from Herbert’s Bikes on the High Street. It was nicked from the garden shed on the trip home. A Marin was bought in the sales with the insurance money). It was also the first place I lived by the sea, discovering the visual joy of a simple horizon line in one direction (well, the Isle of Sheppey breaks it to the north-west). It’s probably no coincidence that for three years I predominantly made paintings which contained nothing but straight lines. The horizon from Whistable beach is no longer only broken by Sheppey, but also the new wind farm in the Thames Estuary, which I couldjust make out in the winter mist in the distance. I popped into The Old Neptune on the beach for lunch, and as I walked in Syd era Pink Floyd was playing on the stereo, pretty much the same as it was the last time I was here in the early ‘90s.

After lunch I rode west across Graveney Marshes towards Faversham, and then turned back south. This was the only part of route which wasn’t on the two maps I had, and the first time my notes let me down. I didn’t get lost as such, I knew which places on signposts I needed to get to, but didn’t necessarily get to them on the roads I planned. The roads also started to rise again at this point, climbing back up over the North Downs. There were a few miles of that annoying kind of stealth climbing – a flat looking road that makes your thighs ache despite not going as fast as you think you should be. There was a short blast along the A252 and A251 through Challock, before turning off, past Stour Art and dropping through King’s Wood towards Wye. Dropping through the trees the view suddenly opened up on the right and I could see how far I had to drop still. So head down and on the drops, I swept round corners, avoiding pot holes and oncoming cars.

At Wye I got caught at an old fashioned level crossing, where the man has to come out and manually open the gates for you. Once the train had passed it was a swift zip around the one way system, and onto the road towards Hinxhill again. Over the M20 and back into Ashford with time for a cuppa before the train home. Sat on the train, my legs ached, I watched the sun set over Romney and Pevensey marshes, and the English Channel. A glorious end to a rather lovely day.

To follow Gavin’s route, check it out on Strava: http://app.strava.com/activities/41092136

Ride Stats:
Distance: 60 miles
Feet climbed: 2600
Average speed: 15 mph
Pints consumed: 1 x Shepherd Neame Kent’s Finest
Veggie burgers consumed: 1
Camera used: Holga 120
Film used: Kodak Portra 160

*There are some additional rules that you can find at http://road.cc/content/forum/72631-2013-roadcc-tourist-trophy

About Gav

Our plans in 2013

Ed — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 08:50:55 +0000

Whilst it would probably appear that it’s been a pretty low key start to 2013, apart from a couple of blog postings and a January sale, nothing could be further from the truth. We’ve been working harder than ever designing and planning, wheeling and dealing to make this year something really special. Although I can’t spill all the beans yet, I can give you a few ideas of what’s going to be on the agenda:

BLB Collaboration and Partnership

Those eagle eyed amongst you may have noticed our new jersey designs have gone up in the shop for pre-order. Included is our collaboration with East London’s finest fixed gear emporium Brick Lane Bikes. The design is inspired by our mutual love for the more psychedelic pro jerseys of the past and the constant pharmaceutical cloud that hangs over our sport. However, our message is simple, we believe in “Looking dope, not using dope”. Pre-order it here

In addition to their store, BLB also have a distribution arm called Big Mamma that services many independent bike stores across the world, looking after brnds such as Phil Wood and Aerospoke. We are delighted to have struck a partnership that sees Big Mamma look after us too and we’ve some really interesting plans to create exclusive products for the indie stores they work with.

Spring 13 Collection

Our first series of designs for the year mixes some classic style with a little something retro and a dollop of the future. This is the first time we have created a full collection in-house and we are extremely proud of the results. Head over to the shop for all the details and pre-order now.

New website

We are currently redesigning the site to take on a whole lot more content and products over the coming months and hope to have it live in the next few weeks. Our Owner of the Month competition will continue throughout the season with goodies up for grabs for our favourite snaps as well as regular contributors and the odd special competition. So make sure you’re signed up to our Newsletter.

Shows

You will be able to find us at Bespoked Bristol in April and a new bike show in London called Spin on the first weekend in May.

More

We’ve a couple more very big announcements to come in the next few weeks too, so keep your eyes peeled on your In Boxes and here’s to a fantastic 2013! Cheers!

FHHV Roller Racing Party

Ed — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 17:35:29 +0000

The FHHV Spring Opener Party in conjunction with Rollapaluza Thursday March 21st 2013.

Friend’s of Herne Hill Velodrome are throwing a big fund raising Rollapaluza party to start the 2013 season in aid of the Save HHV Campaign. There will be great prize draws, amazing auction items including a signed Wiggo jersey, and very special celebrity guests.

The venue in London’s Canary Wharf can hold almost 800 people and we want to fill it to the rafters with lycra enthusiasts partying and spinning hard, all in the name of a great cause.

Venue: The Ledger Building, 4 Hertsmere Road, West India Quay, London, E14 4AL. Time: 7 – 12pm

See you there!

Milltag x Full Windsor

Ed — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 17:23:17 +0000

Full Windsor successfully launched our Quickfix mudguards on Kickstarter last year, and since then they have been tirelessly working away on creating The Nutter.

The Nutter is a new generation of bicycle multi-tool, it is exceptionally simple and extremely functional. It combines the most commonly used bike tools into one high quality tool. Its unique design and distinctive form turns the tool into a handle, giving you more leverage than other multi-tools on the market. Most cyclists usually carry a set of tyre levers, a multi-tool and a spanner each time they go for a ride, The Nutter combines all these tools into one – saving you space, hassle and weight.

Here at Milltag, we liked what Full Windsor are doing and offered to help by making a jersey, with art by Alex Fowkes, transforming the wearer’s body into a mechanised exoskeleton of bike parts. The only way of getting hold of one is by pledging at least £100, but for that you get The Nutter and a jersey, as well as helping the project get off the drawing board.

Go to the Kickstarter page and help raise the small amount of £8,000 needed to get the tool into production and see more details.

The Tourist Trophy 2013

Ed — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 21:43:04 +0000

We put a call out at the end of last year for Milltagers (or ‘Cavaliers’ as we like to call them) with stories to tell to join us on the blog. We start with Gavin Peacock and his plan to do the Tourist Trophy…

“My good friend Jo Burt, over at road.cc, posted a challenge for 2013: The Tourist Trophy (TT) – to ride in a different county, not including your home county, each month*. (You have to do it now if we’re featuring you – Ed)
The main reason I’ve taken to cycling again is that it’s such a great way to explore, so this is the kind of challenge that appeals. By bike you travel longer distances than on foot but still at a speed that allows you to observe. You see how the landscape changes, you learn to read it, to locate yourself, find the relationships between places. Through cycling I’ve got to know my adopted home county of East Sussex more in the last 12 months than I did in the previous 12 years.

So first up, January: Surrey

It turned out that the first weekend after reading about the TT I was meeting some old friends up in Surrey for lunch and a couple of ales. The decision was made to ride up. However, the meeting place was only a few miles over the border from Sussex which seemed like cheating. So, plans were hatched to fit in a quick lap of the Surrey hills before lunch. My friend Ferg in Newdigate, which is where lunch was to be had, had recently acquired a ‘cross bike and was interested in coming along too. In the spirit of the TT I used Ferg’s local knowledge to add a couple of roads I’d not ridden before.

So, at 8am on the Sunday morning I left Brighton and headed north, in the almost light and what seemed like reasonable weather. But, as soon as I ascended Devil’s Dyke, in the South Downs, I climbed into cold, damp mist. A few miles back down access the Sussex Weald and we were back out of it. Not for long, as soon as I started the long uphill slog to Horsham it was back into mist and fog. This pattern of up and down, in and out of fog, would continue for the rest of the morning. A couple of hours after leaving Brighton I crossed into Surrey just south of Newdigate. After dropping my bag of pub clothes at Ferg’s we headed for the hills…

First up, Leith Hill via Anstie Lane. I’d only ridden this road once, in the 2012 King of the Downs sportive, and remembered it as a fairly unpleasant climb. Turns out all the Sussex hill climbing I’ve done has paid off, it wasn’t as bad as I remembered, only a 7 on the ‘Swearing under the breath scale’. After this was the long, fast descent in Dorking down Coldharbour Lane, one of the new roads to me. Cars and cyclists coming up the hill appeared out of the mist as I flew down the hill (probably way too fast considering visibility and lack of knowledge of the road, but that’s the fun of descending isn’t it?). Through Dorking and up Ranmore Road (back into the fog again) onto Ranmore Common. At this point Ferg and I parted company for a while to get his ‘cross bike dirty on the North Downs Way whilst I headed down Ranmore Common Lane (a tricky descent made trickier by the lack of visibility) to Westhumble and the base of Box Hill.

After joining up again we headed up Box Hill, most famous these days for being “the hill” from the Olympic road race and thus being covered in cyclists at the weekends. This was to be the last climb of the day, and yet again back into fog. This meant we didn’t get the great view that usually makes the climb so worth while, but we did get to play ‘spot the most expensive bike’ game at the National Trust cafe at the top. It wasn’t as swarming as I’ve seen it on a sunny summer’s day, but it was still busy for a foggy Sunday in winter, and far busier than the last time I was up there, which was on Boxing Day.

Then it was a quick blast down the back of Box Hill into Betchworth and a flat ride back to Newdigate to shower and change for lunch. This was a nice change. Usually on a Surrey Hills ride when I get to Newdigate I know I still have 30 odd miles to get home and that the escarpment side of the South Downs awaits me just as my legs have had enough. This time I went to the pub, and appropriately the pub served beer from the Surrey Hills Brewery. A pint of Ranmore Ale was supped contentedly. This is should be the perfect end to a day’s riding but no…as ale was being consumed and it was dark and cold, I decided not to ride all the way home, but to ride a few miles to the nearest train station – a mistake. No direct trains to Brighton, replacement buses for part of the journey and you can’t take bikes on those. Only found this out after starting out my journey, so had to turn around and head back through my starting station to get home the long way. I could have ridden home quicker.”

To follow Gavin’s route, check it out on Strava: http://app.strava.com/activities/36224695

Ride Stats:
Distance: about 60 miles
Average speed 14mph (it was cold, and a social ride after all)
Ascent: roughly 4000ft including Devil’s Dyke, Leith Hill, Ranmore Common and Box Hill.
Drink: 3 pints (2 x Ranmore Ale, 1 x something else local but can’t remember)
Food: 1 pie

*There are some additional rules that you can find at http://road.cc/content/forum/72631-2013-roadcc-tourist-trophy

About Gav

Women’s CX Photo Report

Ed — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 08:13:13 +0000

This year we welcome guest bloggers with stories and pictures from the cycling world. We start with Ed Rollason, a cycling photographer….

“Defeated Champion”

The women’s national cyclocross championship has become fairly humdrum in the last 7 years. Helen Wyman, queen of cross, has rolled into town, ridden the opposition into the ground and departed wearing the red and blue bands. This year the audience got a shock, and the championships were better for it.

I went to the second day of the National Championships after a long spell out of the ‘game’ so to speak. A house move, a change of location and a life suddenly more complicated had all intruded in on what is usually my busiest season of the year. This year has been different, I’m actually starting my season as many are ending it, leaving the best until first you might call it!

Anyone who was there will know it was cold, bone chillingly cold and it tends to sap the energy. I almost gave up and went home, fortunately I didn’t because with the women’s championship the day blew up.

As the day warmed the frozen course slowly got wetter and stickier and the whole race turned on conditions. Wyman went flying off the front leaving Nikki Harris and then the rest of the field trailing in her wake. She cruised, the picture of the established champion. The gap stretched
20 seconds,
40 seconds,
45 seconds
20 seconds…!

Wyman had fallen, bruised her hand and smashed a brake lever. Harris reeled her in unmercifully and passed her, motoring to victory.

I wanted to capture the emotion that surrounded the end of the race. The turmoil that Wyman must have been in, having the championship so cruelly denied her, and the tumult of the crowd, all screaming her on, all trying to get a shot of her in defeat.

My favourite shot is not one that you traditionally see of a rider taking a steep run-up, which are usually taken from above to capture the face of the rider and wide sweep of the arm, flung out for balance. Switching the view around and looking from below you can appreciate the steepness of the incline, feel the tiredness in Wyman’s every move. I also wanted to capture the scrutiny that she was under in the latter part of the race. The cluster of photographers at the top of the climb, anonymous except for the black circles of their lenses, were exactly what I was looking for.

See more of Ed’s photography at www.edrollasonphotography.co.uk

Milltag x FAC

pete — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 11:45:17 +0000

Alas, not the long awaited Factory collaboration (Peter Saville, we’re still waiting for the call) as the title would suggest…I took the opportunity last week to visit our Factory in deepest Slovakia to check on production of the latest jerseys and brief in some new products we hope to release next year. Here at Milltag we take pride in the quality of our jersey’s and this is entirely due to great working relationship we have with the factory. Manufacturing in Europe, although more expensive, gives us access to the latest materials and technologies and we are lucky to have found a facility that’s happy to produce small volumes of high quality product. Slovakia may not be the first name you think of in terms of European cycling but like us they have a current Tour de France jersey winner in Peter Sagan and a strong heritage in Mountain Biking. Plus, the people are lovely, the beer is cheap and the food..well, hearty.

Perhaps the most striking thing about visiting the factory is just how many people are involved in the making of a single jersey – the designs are first printed onto transfer paper which is then steam sublimated onto a flat sheet of material. From a single printed piece the material is then cut, by hand, into the 18 component parts that make up a finished jersey. These elements are the brought together in the sewing room along with the external components, zippers, reflectives etc. There is no automation involved, it’s an entirely mechanical process involving great skill and craft from all those involved, far removed from our idea of sweat shops and slave labour involved in sports goods manufacturing. Instead, here was a small factory in a village in central Europe providing good work for over 40 people, with a real sense of community and shared purpose.

The new products we have for 2013 are still very much in development but we’re confident that we can expand the Milltag offering into other product areas whilst still retaining out signature style. It’s been a great year, meeting many of our customers at Bespoked Bristol back in March and more recently at the Vulpine fete really encouraged us to keep on developing Milltag and our products. There’s growing interest in what we are doing both here in the UK and abroad and we hope to capitalise on this over the coming months.

Well, it’s pretty chilly out there but here in London the roads are ice-free so i’ve not been forced off the bike just yet. Sunday is the last ride of the year for me, but if any of you manage to get the miles in over Christmas you won’t regret it. If you’re feeling really keen you can meet up with this chap, 2800km over Christmas…

To finish i’ll leave you with a few wintery scenes from the heart of Europe…have a good festive period one and all.

Milltag on stage

Ed — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 08:22:51 +0000

Last week saw Ned’s Atomic Dustbin return to the stage in Wolverhampton for their last hoorah of 2012. And boy did Mat look a Bobby Dazzler in his Milltag!

Huge thanks to Mat and the rest of the band for being such a pleasure to work with and I look forward to catching up with them for a Ned’s ride in summer 2013.

Snow Roads

pete — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 16:44:59 +0000

It’s been nearly a year since I last rode 200km in a day, and it seems like a lifetime ago that I completed the SR series (200, 300, 400 & 600km events) and qualified for PBP 2011. Like most cyclists, my priorities change from year to year and the chance to ride with friends on sportives and cycle tours this season has been a welcome change. But, like a moth to a flame I find myself inexorably drawn back into the world of Audax and scanning next year’s calendar….hmm, 400km with 10,000m of climbing in 24 hours, how hard can that be?

I’m back on the Audax trail this Sunday, an inocuous sounding 100km around the South Downs starting in Petworth. I’m getting lift down but will have to cycle back home over some familiar Surrey Hills to bring the distance up to 175km, plenty enough for November and a good indication of how soft i’ve become this past year. The appeal of Audax has always been hard to quantify, I’ve made a couple of films about my experiences but by far the best job was recently broadcast on BBC Scotland’s The Adventure Show, following Dougie Vipond’s efforts on the Snow Road 300km ride up in Northern Scotland this Summer. It manages to combine spectacular scenery, the comaraderie amongst riders, and the sheer relentless grind of the ride in equal measure. And, the closing scene as he staggers off to the final control…ouch, we feel his pain.

Whether it encourages more people to take up Audax i’m not so sure, but for the already converted it provides all the validation we need for this format of cycling. The Snow Roads 2013 is already oversubscribed but there are plenty more on the audax calendar to tempt the adventurous cyclist, and then there’s LEL…

Vulpine Cycling Fete

pete — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 14:48:47 +0000

We missed the event put on this Summer by our friends over at Vulpine but we’re looking forward to the Christmas edition we’ve been invited to take a stall. The posters arrived this morning, a timely reminder that it’s only just over 3 weeks away. Anyone in the London area on Saturday December 1st be sure to pop in and say hello. We’ll have plenty of stock at special show prices, plus one-off samples and stocking fillers for sale. Come on, it’s Christmas. Full details are on the Vulpine site but here’s the essential info;

Date: Saturday 1st December
Location: Balham Bowls Club, 7-9 Ramsden Road, London Sw12 8QX
Time: 3pm-9m

Much more information here

Milltag x UAL Launch

Ed — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 19:15:54 +0000

Earlier in the year we had a competition with the University of Arts London for students to design a cycling jersey inspired by London. Next Thursday we finally unveil the winning design and three runners-up at Central Saint Martins College. So if you are in the area, come down and say hello. Did we mention there will be free beer thanks to Camden Town Brewery? Go to the Facebook event page and RSVP so we make sure there is enough beer.

Wiggo 3 Hits The Road

pete — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 15:33:55 +0000

Our wonderful new Wiggo 3 jersey got it’s first road test this weekend at the Southern Sportive, a 155km ride through and over the South Downs. I’m not sure if I felt inspired by the athletic endeavours of our sportsmen this Summer but I certainly gave it a good go, and with over 9000 ft of climbing it needed it. The weather was perfect, too perfect in fact, so as temperature rose and energy levels started to wane I felt like I was being slowly cooked from the inside. Having gone off strongly, leading our group over the early climbs my recent lack of miles started to take it’s toll and I rather limped home, even stopping for a welcome ice cream on the way in. Still, I finished with a creditable silver time of 6’11″ and did some justice the jersey, which needless to say performed brilliantly all day.

Great to ride with my old friend Max, my wingman from the Pyrenees trip earlier this year who rather sportingly wore his Milltag Cavaliers jersey for the occasion. He’s still got a bit to learn from the pro’s though, see below - always be zipped up for your sponsors when there’s a camera around!

Herne Hill Velodrome

Ed — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 20:32:51 +0000

As we have teamed up to help the Herne Hill Velodrome with the launch of the first in a series of products with the jerseys (see short sleeve and long sleeve), I headed down there armed with my camera last Sunday on a beautiful late summer day for the Dave Creasey Sixs.

The entrance between the houses on a leafy suburban street.

Lovely logo.

Let the racing commence.

Youth at speed.

Although this is racing, anyone is welcome to join in with beginners sessions.

The track retains it’s old school charm.

The velodrome is under threat of closure. Please read the following and visit www.savethevelodrome.com to become a Friend and donate money. Alternatively, buy one of our special jerseys or products where all profit goes to this amazing theatre of cycling. Thank you.

“The Campaign was established in July 2010 by a group of local cyclists and residents to secure a longer lease and funding to resurface the track.It is dedicated to promoting the Velodrome site as a community cycling centre and would continue to promote cycling in all of its forms, both competitive and non-competitive, together with cycling-related activities.

The Campaign aims to promote diversity in the use of the site. In particular the site should be promoted for all, regardless of their age, youth, gender or physical or mental ability, increasing footfall to the site.

The Campaign wants to promote the site as a cycling education facility, and also for the use of those of limited means or social opportunity.

The Velodrome is used by a wide range of users, both competitive and non-competitive, and from novice to experienced riders, with a long standing history to the track being used as the 1948 Olympics and venue for the Good Friday meet for over 100 years, Due to the deterioration of the track and facilities in 2010 the track was under threat of closure.

Achievements So Far

Newly resurfaced track by British Cycling
Site lease extended
£400,000 Southwark Olympic Legacy Board funding
HHVT charity established
Charitable status gained
Online presence developed
Steering group formed
Public meetings undertaken

Stakeholders

The main stakeholders included British Cycling as the leaseholder, The Dulwich Estate as the landowner, as well as users, potential individual users of the site including local residents and schools.

The Campaign worked together with all stakeholders to ensure that their views were fully taken into account in developing the strategy for and use of the site, and would continue to consult and create formal and informal partnerships with stakeholders as appropriate. This was achieved by holding two public meetings at Dulwich College in 2010 and 2011, which were attended by over 1000 people.

Communication

The Committee were also instrumental in setting up this website, the Facebook page www.facebook.com/savethevelodrome which has in excess of 7000 supporters and twitter which has 900 followers.

Sustainability

The Campaign would ensure that the site is developed and used in a sustainable manner, including in relation to:
environmental impact on local residents;
any built development or other operations on the site;

Sustainable energy use;
Use of other resources, including water;
Preservation and enhancement of the ecological potential of the site;
Preservation and enhancement of the historical character of the site;
Modes of travel to the site.

Relationships

The Campaign recognises the crucial role played by volunteers, both in the past and in the future, in the management of the site. The Campaign is particularly committed to ensuring that this role is recognised, appreciated, promoted and supported, and that volunteers are recognised as a key stakeholder of the site.

The Campaign will promote equality and diversity in volunteering opportunities.

The Campaign has received offers of support from a wide range of sources, including from professional and technical experts. Where it is necessary to select from among offers of support, the Campaign will do so according to fair, objective and transparent principles.

The Campaign will ensure that any commercial contracts are awarded according to principles and following selection processes which are fair, objective and transparent, and will ensure that services procured represent best value, both financially and otherwise.”

Milltag x Ned’s Atomic Dustbin

Ed — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 07:09:49 +0000

We are pleased to announce a collaboration with 90s indie favourites Ned’s Atomic Dustbin.

The band contacted us following our work with the likes of Pixies and The Wedding Present and we’ve been working with them on designs. Thankfully they really liked what we’d done – so much that you’ll have the choice of 3 different designs which will be going up on the site this week. Make sure you are on our mailing list to be the first to see and purchase.

Pre-orders will be taken for a month at which point we will manufacture the orders.

Chapeau Wiggo!

pete — Sun, 22 Jul 2012 19:41:46 +0000

Well done Wiggo, Cav and all at Team Sky, what a way to finish it off. Raising a glass to you tonight, look forward to seeing you back on home soil for the Gold run.

Break the Cycle Kit

Ed — Thu, 28 Jun 2012 06:49:47 +0000

We designed and produced kit for the Break the Cycle ride earlier this month and here are some pictures of Ben Breeze and his team looking good.

SuperU – The Raid Pyrenean

pete — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 09:58:24 +0000

SuperU – Raid Pyrenean 2012 from Milltag on Vimeo.

I’ve been back just over a week now from completing the Raid Pyrenean, enough time to get some thoughts together about this pretty special trip, and cut the footage together into a short film ‘SuperU’. This is shot very much as a companion piece to last year’s ‘Towards
the Ocean‘ and 2009′s ‘Whisky for Breakfast‘( London Edinburgh London).

It’s fair to say that the Raid Pyrenean still presents a fair challenge to most cyclists, climbs like the Tourmalet, Aubisque and Pailheres go on for ever, and then a bit more, at a gradient that, whilst not savage, is enough to keep you stuck in bottom sprocket for the entire climb. The weather can play a big part too, descending the Tourmalet in the cold, fog and rain was no fun at all, but the similarly long descent of the Pailheres totally, mind-blowingly ace. The climbs of the Aspin and Col de Port were the most beautiful I’ve ever done.

So, it was hard for sure, but never excessively so and having road-side support, decent food and good hotels every night certainly allow you to recover sufficiently to be ready for the next day. When I showed this film to my wife she said ‘ it looks like you had a nice holiday’. And that, in essence, is exactly what it was. Enjoy.

Cycling Sri Lanka Style

Ed — Sun, 17 Jun 2012 13:41:44 +0000

Those regular blog readers amongst you have been pretty starved of any updates for a while, the reason being that I’ve been taking a break for it all before the usual summer madness with my feet up in Sri Lanka (while Pete is currently cycling over a load of mountains in the South of France). But far from leaving my bike obsession at Heathrow I managed to find time to undertake a quick photographic look into the Sri Lankan bike scene…

Bikes are everywhere from city to countryside, highway to beach… (Photo by Pete Robertshaw).

But rather them than me, bikes have to compete for road space with all manner of traffic, from tuck-tucks…

….makeshift human-powered carrying devices…

…mental bus drivers (overtaking on blind corners a speciality). To add to the ‘excitement’, all vehicles beep their horns as they approach a slower road-user as I sign that “I am here”. I’m amazed that more cyclists don’t end up in a ditch after being “warned” by a lorry doing 50kph.

Most of the bikes I saw were single-speeds, with a variety custom-made racks for carrying pretty much anything.

eg. Sticks.

Compared to over here I didn’t see a single lock in use.

And even the Police use them to get around rather than cars.

I did see a few serious cyclists in the proper gear but the only one I could manage to photograph was this guy out for a Sunday ride catching a bit of help from a passing motorbike!

All in all, I fantastic place to visit although not somewhere I’ll be taking my bike. However, the UCI should take a look at have a stage race there as the mountain roads into the tea plantations are as awesome as anything I’ve seen. Alpine switchbacks, amazing views and great road surfaces. Just make sure you can get the other traffic off the road.

Up, up and away

pete — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 11:35:08 +0000

With Ed away on his jollies these past two weeks it’s been left to me to steer the good ship Milltag. It’s been pretty hectic with plenty of custom orders arriving in time for the Summer(?!) but a real pleasure to get to know some of our customers, what a lovely bunch you all are. Anyway, the captain is back on Monday with tales from the exotic East just as I leave these rainy shores for that notorious hotspot, the French Pyrenees.

On Monday I start the Raid Pyrenean, a 720km jaunt along the entire length of the Pyrenees, starting near Biarritz on the Atlantic Coast and finishing on the port of Cerbere on the Med. Along the way we climb all the big beasts of the Pyrenees; the Aspin, Tourmalet, Peyresourde, Aubisque, plus most of the small (at 1000m) ones as well. The Raid is officially validated by the French Cyclotouring federation and this particular version, the ‘Touriste’ allows a maximum of 100 hours for the ride, with control towns to pass through and stamps to collect just like a UK Audax. The time allowance may seem generous, it allows for a decent sleep and feed each evening, but with 3500+ meters of climbing each day I think i’ll need it. We’ll be supported by the team from Marmot Tours, another little luxury after the previous years Audaxing. By the sounds of things we’ll need a full set of winter clothing for the high passes and descents, they’ve only just cleared the snow off the top of the Tourmalet. I’ll be modeling the full array of Milltag product; shirts (a different one for each day of course), jacket and even our ace new caps from Walz, plus making a film as a companion to last year’s ‘Towards the Ocean‘. You’ll see it here first.

I’d like to have done more training, who doesn’t at this time of year – I saw Wiggo nail the time trial last night in France, what a legend, he’s done 100,000m of climbing in training this season alone and is the clear favourite for the Tour now. I’ll never be able to ride a bike like him but as he goes up the Tourmalet in July, in yellow and with overall victory in sight, I’ll be able to share just a little of the pain, and, lets hope, the jubilation to follow. Onwards then, forever onwards.

Brother Cycles Jersey

Ed — Wed, 23 May 2012 20:57:30 +0000

We recently designed and produced some jerseys for the chaps at Brother Cycles. You’ll have to ask them if you want one…

Copenhagen-Barca on Cargos

Ed — Wed, 23 May 2012 20:30:35 +0000

A few weeks ago I got an email from Casper in Denmark:

“Hello Milltag!

We are two guys who are going to travel down Europe by cargo bike this spring/summer. It will take about 25 days with breaks. We would like to order some jerseys…”

Jerseys done and sent, the lads set off last week and you can follow their journey on their blog: cargobikejourneys.blogspot.com

Sadly, today we hear the plan has had to be delayed: “Casper have had a serious allergic reaction (anaphylactic chock), and have stayed the night at the hospital in Rheine. It will probably take a few days for him to recover his strength but we’ll be back soon. On the positive side, we will have some time to edit a video and take some good pictures around here in while he recovers!”

Hope you’re back on your feet quickly Casper and look forward to seeing more pics and vids.

Here’s the full jersey in it’s Scandinavian designed glory…

Milltag Cavaliers Jersey

Ed — Wed, 23 May 2012 19:55:01 +0000

Following the announcement of our ultra division: the Milltag Cavaliers, back in April. We can unveil the official Cavaliers jersey.

Remember, this jersey cannot be bought, only awarded: to those Milltag aficionados who are worthy of particular recognition for their endeavors in the field of cycling for Milltag.

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…

Cosmic Bike Polo x Milltag

Ed — Thu, 10 May 2012 22:17:58 +0000

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

Orders and Updates

Ed — Thu, 10 May 2012 20:00:39 +0000

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.

Rainy days and Fridays

pete — Fri, 04 May 2012 09:14:04 +0000

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’.

Milltag x Walz Caps

Ed — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 13:57:35 +0000

Just a quick post to announce that your will soon be able to purchase the first Milltag signature cap, designed by us and made by our favourite cycling milliners over in California: Walz Caps

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.

Guest Artist: Rebecca J Kaye

Ed — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 10:03:02 +0000

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

2012 Tour De France Jerseys

Ed — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 12:17:10 +0000

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.

Are you a Milltag Cavalier?

Ed — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 10:38:26 +0000

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.

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…

Bespoked Design Competition

Ed — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 10:22:54 +0000

We held a competition for the lovely folks who turned up in their hundreds last weekend for Bespoked Bristol: to design their perfect cycling jersey, with the winning entry getting made for them.

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 on Bikes Video

Ed — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 09:12:07 +0000

Great new vid from Londoners on Bikes featuring our design work… Vote with your bike!

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

www.londonersonbikes.org

Keirin Documentary

Ed — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 15:19:35 +0000

Nice little film by Jonathan de Villiers about Japanese Keirin racing. Loving the superhero armour/jersey combo.

Chasing Rainbows Posters

Ed — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 15:45:25 +0000

I’m always a sucker for a bike poster competition and in the lead up to the UCI Track World Championships in Melbourne in 3 weeks, local website Bikefest have been gathering entries for posters to advertise the event. The gallery is here, but here are some of my favourites (and therefore possible Milltag collaborators?!)….

Bespoked Bristol Coming Soon!

Ed — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 09:13:11 +0000

Bespoked Bristol : the UK’s prestige bike event promoting the international talents of independent makers and designers of the bicycle world will shortly be upon us again. This year it takes place on 23rd-25th March at Brunel’s Old Station, located in the historic railway terminus building of the Great Western Railway situated right next to Bristol’s Temple Meads railway station.

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!

Vintage Jersey Database

Ed — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 08:59:26 +0000

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!

Bike Polo: Kings in Action

Ed — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 18:09:11 +0000

The London Bike Polo League reached it’s climax on Saturday with the final game between the Kings (decked in their Milltag jerseys) and Cosmic proving to be the decider. Cosmic took the title but Max assures me that “we gave em a run for their money!”

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

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

Project Qoroz

pete — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 11:51:59 +0000

Taking advantage of the great weather, I headed down to Hampton Court to arrange some publicity shots for a new collaboration with Qoroz bikes we’ll be unveiling at Bespoked Bristol later this month. I’ve been testing their top of the range ‘Race Won’ titanium bike over the past month and suffice to say this is one fast machine. We’ll be talking more about our plans soon but here’s a few shots to whet the appetite (pics courtesy of Charlie Birchmore).

At the Olympic Velodrome

Ed — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 13:05:34 +0000

Our own Pete was one of the lucky 6,000 to be at the first proper event at the new Olympic Velodrome last night as the final round of the Track World Cup kicked off. When not cheering on Team GB he managed to take these shots. Jealous?…in a word, yeah.

Go!

A lesson in aerodynamics.

Keep pushing.

On the line.

Can I have this guy’s job?

UAL Comp at Camberwell

Ed — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 18:03:51 +0000

Yesterday saw a quick visit to Camberwell College of the Arts to see some of the initial ideas for our competition to design a jersey inspired by London (previous blog entry here).

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!

Lab Rat

pete — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 13:58:17 +0000

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.

Have you got the Milltag Gene?

Ed — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 10:36:39 +0000

The boffins at the Milltag Lab have stumbled across what they think could be evidence of a specific gene that confirms there are certain cyclists that are pre-ordained with the sense of style and individuality provided by Milltag.

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.

The Life of an Elite Cyclist

Ed — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:05:18 +0000

There’s a bit of us all in these…Caution: Contains colourful language (not suitable at work).

Series 3 Jersey Artists Revealed

Ed — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 12:30:05 +0000

The third artist series of jerseys are currently being developed in four darkened studios up and down the country and we can now reveal that the artists will be (in no particular order)….

Ben Steers

Steven Bonner

Matt Giordano-Bibby (aka Baddesigner)

Andrew Thorpe

Stay tuned for the designs!

London Art Student Competition

Ed — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 12:07:22 +0000

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.

New Year, New Milltag

pete — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 18:03:32 +0000

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.

Farewell Transmission

pete — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 11:36:52 +0000

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)

8) 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.

Old Band T-Shirt Day

Ed — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 11:27:43 +0000

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.

Christmas Sale

Ed — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 09:45:05 +0000

This year we thought we’d help you out before Christmas, rather than the making you wait till a January sale with our MASSIVE sale across all stock.

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!

Milltag Bicycle Polo Division

Ed — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 16:11:39 +0000

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.

INSA Show Pics

Ed — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 13:38:37 +0000

Here are some more pics from the show last week, including model Arabella D in the unreleased special edition jersey.

All the INSA x Milltag jerseys are now sold out!

(Pics: Teddy@Protein)

The Dragsman Cometh

Ed — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 13:12:05 +0000

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…

INSA show now on!

Ed — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 17:15:05 +0000

The Show opened last night with several hundred turning out to see the exhibition, drink the beer and scoff the fish tacos. But before the carnage (more pictures next week), here’s how it looked.

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

INSA Photoshoot

Ed — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 11:27:55 +0000

In readiness for the show and release of the jerseys this Thursday, myself and INSA directed a photo-shoot of the jerseys at the weekend to get your juices flowing.

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

INSA x Milltag Jerseys

Ed — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 14:36:44 +0000

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.

INSA x Milltag

Ed — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 12:51:21 +0000

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

The Slow Coast

Ed — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 12:16:15 +0000

One of my favourite design inspiration websites is “It’s Nice That” and they recently did an interview with Nick Hand, a cycling designer who cycled the British and Irish coastlines. What sets his journey apart is that during his travels he interviewed and recorded many fascinating people along the way who had a wide variety of artisan jobs and then produced a lovely book of his meetings. A nice twist on the normal cycling journal.

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

The Work Cycle

Ed — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 15:46:49 +0000

We recently came across a nice little website celebrating cycling to work: The Work Cycle.

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

Full Metal Jersey

Ed — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 15:09:38 +0000

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

Towards the Ocean: A Film

Ed — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 09:29:55 +0000

He went to France, he rode, he conquered…

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.

Eurobike 2011 in pics: Oddities

Ed — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 13:47:23 +0000

Here are some of the more strange bikes we saw.

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!)

Eurobike 2011 in pics: Bikes

Ed — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 13:36:56 +0000

This is what we went to see (apart from the meetings). Here’s the pick of our favourites…

Cadel’s BMC.

Tommy’s wheels for 10 days in July.

Fast.

We noticed that most of the top end bikes came with a matt carbon finish with subtle gloss graphics. A long way from the retina burning paint jobs of the 90s. Here is Canyon…

…Bianchi Oltre….

…and our absolute favourite at Eurobike: The R5ca from Cervelo. That’s the R5ca by Cervelo. Are you reading this Cervelo, we loved your bike, the R5ca. Please send 2 bikes for testing to our address in the Contact page.

Patriotic limited edition frame by Look.

Parlee x Prius (yes, the car!). See more here.

The usual understatement of Mr Cipollini.

Eurobike 2011 in pics: No bikes

Ed — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 13:21:28 +0000

So that was our first adventure to Eurobike over in Friedrichshafen, Germany. We came, we saw (most of it) and we met Jens Voigt. Here’s a few of the highlights….

Camping at nearby SC Friedrichshafen. Pete still catching up after his PBP excursions last week.

Rolfhaus beer. Ya!

Dirt-jumpers.

Cyclewear fashion shows….in a word “No”.

I always wondered what to do with my newspaper when cycling. Problem solved.

BMC (in yellow) chat to the Mavic guys (in black) at the Mavic stand.

The Boss (the other one) signing at the Oakley stand.

Salute to Frank and Jens.

A happy man with Mr V.

Typical cuisine…

…all washed down with to Thor lager!

See you next year!

Orders Update

Ed — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 10:17:33 +0000

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!

Pete completes PBP!

Ed — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 10:03:31 +0000

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!

Buy Wilco album & Win a bike?!

Ed — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 13:35:57 +0000

With bands trying all sorts of new methods to get folks buying their albums rather than downloading from a dodgy source, here’s a new one from Wilco – pre-order the new album and win a restored 1950s single speed bike!

“The Whole Love Pre-Order is HERE. The album is available on 180 gram double gatefold vinyl, CD, deluxe CD box & digital. The Pre-Order has other exclusive goodies (shirt, slip mat, sticker, yo-yo, and more).When you pre-order a copy of The Whole Love from The Whole Love Pre-Order store between now and September 27, you will automatically become eligible to win prizes in one of our 3 weekly drawings, including this one of a kind single speed Wilco Bicycle. (Made in Chicago, of course). The bike will be delivered by the band (at a mutually agreeable tour stop) with photo opportunity.The sooner you pre-order, the more chances you have to win. Other prizes include: signed copies of the album (vinyl & cd), tickets to live shows, a vintage Polaroid camera w/ photos taken by the band on tour and much, much more.Those of you who do your music shopping in iTunes should go HERE to pre-order.

Wilco HQ interviewed Todd Simeone, maker of the Wilco Bike — a prize in The Whole Love Pre-Order Store drawings. Todd is a Chicago-based visual artist, general bike guy and co-founder of Tenspeedhero.com.

1. What inspired you to build a custom Wilco bicycle?
Not sure if it was my inspiration so much as I would like to think it was Jeff’s. I love to build these bikes, and I had made a very nice single speed for a friend. Jeff saw it and approached me about commissioning bikes for the band. Thinking about it, the prospect of a “Wilco” bike was interesting to me. Not only did the name “Wilco” seem like it could be a bike manufacturer, but based on the music, I honestly couldn’t think of any band other than Wilco having a bike named after it. Wilco and bike riding seemed like a great match.

2. Why a “fixie” (fixed gear bike)?
Actually it’s a single speed, with an option for a “fixed gear” on the hub. A fixed gear has constantly moving pedals, and is very efficient, but can require some skill and concentration to ride. A one speed bike with a freewheel allows the rider to coast and be mellow. Either way, one-speed bikes have a lot of appeal for their simplicity. No gears and little maintenance makes life easier (as long as there are no hills).

3. What makes this bike unique to Wilco and Chicago?

Bikes have always been a huge part of Chicago, from Schwinn to the current fixed gear craze. It’s an easy city to ride a bike, and cycling has impacted the culture in Chicago significantly. As a project, the most noteworthy aspect was the collaborative local effort put in to building the bike. Several talented Chicagoans contributed in amazing ways.

4. What inspired your design choices/colors?

Some of the design choices were made based on classic original bike designs including the original frame manufacturer. There is a timeless quality to a lot of bike design, which also seemed to mesh with Wilco’s aesthetic. Color was my main contribution, and when thinking about Wilco and their music, I could not picture anything but “dust blue” (which also happened to be a 1950′s Ford truck color).

5. Can you give us a synopsis of the process that went into building the bike?

I searched for months for just the right frame, which consisted of several steps including a near re-making of the frame’s basic components. While other work was being completed, I would chip away at the design and slowly look for the perfect parts. Once everything was collected, the hard part was basically over. Actually building the bike only took a few days, but even then fine details and intricate solutions had to be made. From inception to final build the project lasted over a year.

6. How did you get started in building custom bikes? How long have you been building them?

I have been riding and building my own bikes since I was a little kid, but only in the last few years got into the idea of restoration. I grew up in the Detroit area, where friends’ parents were always restoring old cars so I was somewhat familiar with the process. It started by restoring one of my own road bikes, and continued as outside interest grew and my skills and resources accumulated. I have always been partial to putting work into something with a history, and do similar things with my visual artwork. As a hobby, bike restoration satisfied everything I was interested in while giving me a practical break from some of my other work.

7. What are you listening to in your shop these days?

This is a funny question. The shop is pretty low-fi. There is currently a Hank Williams CD stuck in the changer, and that’s pretty much it.”

Bike Show Print

Ed — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 13:34:28 +0000

All those people who pre-ordered our Bike Show jersey have a little surprise in store for them when the jersey arrives at their door in about a week… this lovely limited edition screen-print signed by The Bike Show logo designer Rich Mitch. Our way of saying thanks for waiting for your order.

Artcrank London 2011

Ed — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 17:51:43 +0000

It’s that time time again…on Friday, August 19, the 2011 edition of ARTCRANK London will return to Look Mum No Hands! with a new set of original, limited-edition bike posters — all of them selling for £30.00. This year’s ARTCRANK London will feature posters by 24 UK artists, including the graphic talents behind The Ride Journal and boneshaker. See you they…

Crayonfire TdF 2011 Prints

Ed — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 17:42:44 +0000

Crayonfire (aka Neil Stevens) is an illustrator and blatantly a massive cycling fan as this year he produced a beautiful print for every stage of the Tour De France!

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:

Green Jersey Sprint Winner!

Ed — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 12:43:51 +0000

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)

World in Motion

pete — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 09:28:01 +0000

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.

Milltag Green Jersey Competition

Ed — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 14:56:26 +0000

Here’s your chance to win an absolutely one-off Green Edition Manx Missile jersey (below) to celebrate Cav’s historic triumph in the Tour this year.

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!

Road.cc loving our Tommy

Ed — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 16:27:58 +0000

Great review for our Tommy appeared on Road.cc this week. Shame they didn’t notice the Eschler tags all over it (it’s not CoolPlus), but we forgive you Liam thanks to the 4.5/5!

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!

The Milltag Kid’s Club

Ed — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 16:38:30 +0000

I’m not sure the real owner’s will get these jerseys back….

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 Jersey

Ed — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 14:03:04 +0000

“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.

The Void

pete — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 16:46:40 +0000

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.

Milltag on 6 Music

Ed — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 11:16:04 +0000

With the Tour win under way, even BBC Radio 6 Music’s Mark Radcliffe and Stuart Maconie couldn’t avoid chatting about it this week, although not with any kind of knowledge or interest!

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!

Custom Keep Calm Jersey

Ed — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 09:52:44 +0000

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…

Peloton Price is Right!

Ed — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 08:47:20 +0000

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.

Twitter 1000th follower Giveaway

Ed — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 07:23:42 +0000

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.

Keep Calm and Pedal On

Ed — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 13:35:49 +0000

I’ve been asked by a couple of people whether we might do a “Keep Calm & Carry On” jersey as per the GB Legends series and I’d like you to decide.

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.

Draw a Bike for a Charity Tee

Ed — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 16:01:55 +0000

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

Bowthorpe rides 670KM in 24 hours

pete — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 10:52:14 +0000

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.

A Trail of Two Cities

pete — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 10:20:40 +0000

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.

Bristol Handmade Bike Show 2011

pete — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 09:51:14 +0000

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…

Comrade by Brother x Milltag

Ed — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 15:08:03 +0000

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.

24hr Cycling Freak at Look Mum…

Ed — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 14:38:18 +0000

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!!

Desktop Peloton

Ed — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 14:23:16 +0000

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!

At Bespoked Bristol this week

Ed — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 13:16:10 +0000

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!

Unknown Pleasures

pete — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 15:01:16 +0000

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.

PROJECT BIKE SHOP is go!

Ed — Tue, 31 May 2011 12:28:01 +0000

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.

Jeff Parr Velo Art

Ed — Fri, 27 May 2011 14:33:15 +0000

I’ve been meaning to mention Jeff of a while now as he has a few Giro inspired pieces on show at Look Mum No Hands and every time I see them I fall more in love with them.

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

Brother x Milltag

Ed — Fri, 27 May 2011 08:47:06 +0000

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….

Patisserie Cyclisme

Ed — Thu, 26 May 2011 09:59:50 +0000

As a cyclist who likes his food I love this site started by Louise McCall: Patisserie Cyclisme

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!

LFGSS 2011 Jersey

Ed — Thu, 26 May 2011 09:31:51 +0000

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.

A hard day on the iron horse

pete — Mon, 23 May 2011 15:18:40 +0000

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…