"ArtDA"

Some great pics taken by a friendly French photographer, @whiteandcream

Bespoked, Setup Day

Here we go again people: Bristol Bespoked Bike Show again!

Adventure Race Result

So the makeshift mapholder held up through all the rain and the ADL once again made me feel very sure footed on the trail. Easily taking on drops that I would otherwise have faltered at. The only issue I had was one a created. I lost all brakes with over 1 hour to go. I should have put new pads in on Saturday. This meant that for the last hour I had to run down every hill in my bike shoes and because of that I now have black toe nails and expect to lose them soon.

It is at least 2 years since my last race so I was pleased with the result. We finished 3rd in the Male pairs category although we were very late back and got penalised for that. My navigate was a bit rusty but on the whole we were going in the right direction.

Think I might do one again soon. Link to results below.

http://www.openadventure.com/results/1112/northdowns/male_pairs.html

ADL ready for Adventure Racing

Doing my first Adventure Race in 3 years tomorrow on the North Downs. I have a may holder but it is for standard bars so will not fit on the ADL as it has oversize. I had a hunt around the shed on Friday evening but it was going to be a real faff to change things over just for 2-3hrs of riding so this morning I rigged up a basic mount and added the rotating map holder onto it. Hopefully it will be robust enough to last the 2-3hr ride tomorrow. It's going to be a wet one so lets see....

Show Time!!

People, it's that time of year again - the Bespoked Bristol Handmade and Boutique Bike Show is on again, this year at the end of March. Milk is going to be there again. If you're in the area or can possibly get down to Bristol on the 24th & 25th of March, come down and see it - it's going to be awesome!

This is why there is Milk Bikes

Hi Mark,

Just to let you know Ice Cold Milk arrived safe and sound a couple of days ago and had its first test ride yesterday.

It was a brisk -20C, but with only a light breeze so thankfully very light windchill. It rode just perfectly straight out the box. Fast and eager on the hard packed skidoo trails, responsive and nimble on some fairly tame single track I was playing on.

The tyres are awesome, I was able to climb a very respectable hill covered in sheet ice that my hard soled Northwave boots just slid on - most impressive.

Only one minor off, which was more a case of speed overcoming talent! Ice Cold Milk giving me too much confidence on a narrow tree lined section of single track.

The hub gears worked faultlessly and the belt seemed super smooth.

All in all a first class build.

The Fatbike snow bikes are big here, and undoubtedly they would have me on fresh snow, but anything even remotely packed as most of the trails are, and I'll leave them in my ice crystals!?

Thanks for the kind note you sent through with the bike, glad to be able to support someone who so obviously cares about the bikes they build, instead of the soulless big brand names - so terribly dull!!

Best regards,

Tom and Ice Cold Milk!

What a few days on the Milk Bikes Part 1 - Friday.

Had another adventure with Martin, and to start with Mike. We went the off road route except I was on the RDA (Recommended Daily Allowance) commute bike. This bike has been working faultlessly. The ground was frozen solid so there was no problem with traction and the Marathon pluses seemed to work great but I could have done with a bit more volume of air in the tires like my MTB riding friends. We left in the day light and traveled over the old friends of fields that we have not seen for a while. Lights went on and we immediately had to stop for Mike’s ‘budget’ lights. The cable had pulled out of the battery. We decided to make the most of the light and get as far as possible before we had to deal with the light issue. Mike was on a mission anyway as he had had a call from his wife and he had to be home. He split off to stick to the roads and then it was back to just Martin and me. There were times when there would be a posse of 5 of us on this route but times change and now it is only Martin and me who regularly take on the Friday adventure. Tonight we had a goal. There was a beer festival to reach and it was free before 6. Neither of us had the time and we were quite happy rolling through the countryside. We got to the beer festival in Chelmsford, faffed while we locked up and got to the door at 6:01pm You would have hoped that the door men would have seen how much effor we had made to reach them, dressed in our lycra, but they did not care and relieved both of us of £5 to get in. The festival passed as they do knocking back halves of as many unusually named beers as you can. Saying hello to old friends. Talking about this and that. The best visual of the evening was the jumper that hung itself from a window controller however I am sad to say that there is no photographic evidence of the ‘jumpercide’ as the owner was never gone to far... 9pm and it was off to our warm homes and families. Friday commutes are the best. Thanks Martin for being there.