My Medici, Part III: Jersey Shore

A Harley Quinn-inspired jersey, never produced; I'm sad.

Greg Archer's ideas and passion outlasted his brick-and-mortar bike accessories store, The Rest Stop. As a result, not all of the products which he asked me to design and illustrate for the store ever saw daylight, unless you count my Web site.

So it's show-and-tell time. First up: Wearables.

Besides seasonal direct-mail and media advertising, I got to create several promotional items for The Rest Stop's use over time, in a broad spectrum that includes bicycle racing jerseys, signs, a racing cap, gift card, certificates, coffee mugs, and a water bottle. I even designed logos for beer brands; I can't remember if they were just whimsical notions for beer coasters one day, or if beer would eventually be produced as excuses to affix labels.

I worked on a mural that succumbed to logistical obstacles. I created flags.

In short, I made Dog, The Rest Stop's spokesdog, jump through a lot of hoops, which it did, with silent aplomb — which has got to be difficult for a spokesdog.

For the "Joker" jersey, never produced (boo!), dog played king and queen and joker:

I bow before the designers of playing cards; those card backs are marvels of intricacy,
of which mine is faint imitation; poor pink dog, how I tortured you!

Dog did double duty on the shoulder designs, my favorite part of the racing jerseys:

voler.com made the production very manageable with its digital templates.

The western terminus of The Pony Express in 1860 (we'll conveniently ignore San Francisco), Sacramento got a history revision from yours truly:

The penny-farthing'd Pony Express rider was featured on one of only two racing jerseys we could manage to ready for market. This one featured a rockin' and rollin' Sacramento by day on the front (including the state capitol building, the Renaissance Tower known locally as the Darth Vader Building, the Tower Bridge, a basketball for the Sacramento Kings and a baseball on the other side of the Sacramento River for the Sacramento River Cats) …

And the back side of the city at night:

Though not to scale, The Rest Stop store is just about where it used to be in relation to the city.

I've stopped riders on the American River Bike Trail to tell them I designed their jersey. And they've looked at me just about the way you imagine they would if a sweaty schlub stopped them in mid ride to say such a thing.

The other jersey The Rest Stop was able to make and sell gently parodied the Tour de France  climbing champion's shirt. It featured … guess who?!

The first jersey we worked on also never made it off the drawing board. Oh, how I wanted to see the so-called "flywheel" jersey out on the trail:

It would have featured, for the first time, the penny-farthing image and early
bicycles, including the da Vinci velocipede hoax.

Why? I don't know. It just needed to be done.

 And the best part, the shoulder patch:

One of the last projects for The Rest Stop was also among the most fun. A cyclist's cap that Greg himself models here:

Flap down …

Flap up…

And the best part of that project was making up sponsors' logos to adorn the hat:

Sonic screwdrivers were Greg's idea, inspired by Dr Who; Chain Food was an actual idea
I proposed for a long-ago client (who was a fool not to use it!).

Pace Sportswear also furnished an easy-to-use template.