During a road trip back from RAGBRAI in Iowa with Mark, the magic of the mobile internet and the genius of two techies combined to form the idea of a custom jersey for this trip. While I drove thru multiple one-lane construction zones in South Dakota and Montana, Mark surfed the net to see if it was even possible. We found a couple different companies that will do custom jerseys but we quickly found out that 3 weeks is not remotely possible. Turns out that you can't ship anything from China that quick. Mark found one other company, but they were closed.
On Monday morning after we got back, I hit the phone and the internet, and called the company, and after a couple questions, found that we could get jerseys prior to our trip but we'd have to move fast. So, I called in another expert, Crystal Craig, who does awesome photography and graphic work, and floated the ideas we had, and she was in. We spent the better part of the day coming up with the design, and all of the credit goes to her - I fed ideas, and she returned the next version.
Mark and I had brainstormed during the drive of an outline of France, with a depiction of our route, and maybe some of the stops or highlights, along with a Tour de Bob logo. So I told Crystal of our vague ideas, and she came up with what I think is a fantastic design, in one day. It must have taken a dozen or more versions, a lot of time on Google Maps to get the route right, and a bunch of research to get the details. I shipped it off, got the approval from the jersey company, and we were in business!
The highlights of the jersey include a yellow base color, since the leader of the 'Tour' gets to wear yellow. We've got an outline of France, since that's where we're going, a mostly accurate trace of our route, with the nightly stops labeled, and a list of our days down the middle with the mileage, vertical, and highlights. And a GREAT version of the Tour logo for the Tour de Bob. I envision them being collectors items for many years! Or, we'll at least have something unique to wear during the trip.
We should look pretty good cycling down the back roads of Southeast France!
