Why and how Bristol Mile Monkeys?
After being involved with the setting up and running of two successful UK National Cycling Teams, Nick Hill found that he had accidentally stumbled across an idea.
“I had myself been involved in several endurance cycling events, whilst running the teams and I had raised money for a couple of chosen charities due to friends and colleagues becoming ill and using the said charities in one way or another.
My involvement in the race teams then sadly ended, but I had loved the camaraderie and endurance events I had done.
So whilst on a transatlantic flight back from Las Vegas with my then work colleague, Alpinestars and Sidi clothing designer Chris Papworth, I explained that I had an idea to get a collective of cyclists together to take on endurance based events to support chosen charities. The riders would come and go as they wished and we would find non corporate important charities who we would raise awareness and funds for, jumping from one charity to another per challenge or event as required.
The idea being that when the going got tough and the event became physically painful the rider would be driven on by the thought that his or her pain was nothing to that compared to the pain of those the charities represented!
I asked Chris to design me a kit that was the old school Peugeot Grand Tour kit meets punk rock and Banksy style graffiti! Chris then asked me what I wanted to call the collective? I simply replied well we all end up being performing Monkeys for people who need us and I love the City I was born in so how about The Bristol Mile Monkeys.
Chris thrashed out some ideas and hey presto I had a kit design and The Bristol Mile Monkeys were born!!”