Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.
–Mark Twain
The Tenspeed Hero Club Jersey is a new way to introduce ourselves and steer this online-fanzine to new horizons. Economies of scale are a harsh reality within the world of t-shirt and sock blogdom so having your own thematic jersey is the next big step.
After quietly launching last May, this website grew quickly and soon began to feel like driving a hot rod in high school — at first you’re proud of the way it garners looks and stares, then you realize you need a killer sound system so people can hear you coming before you even turn the corner. A jersey does all of this in the world of bikes, blogging, and twittering. A splash of color, screen-printed by Nalini, screams your visual philosophy. Yes, this jersey is for all the people we have met along the way, in Belgium, France, Holland, Italy, Denmark, Sweden, England, Portland (we know Portland is not officially a country) and ye olde USA. It is for Heroes plain and simple.
Plus we must say the peer pressure was becoming enormous. Where is your jersey? Do you have a team? (btw, team announcement coming and another team kit!) Now we can hold our heads up high around El Cyclista, Wooly Mammoth, Gage and Desoto, Cycle Boredom, Headset Press and Embrocation!
So for this post we will just give you the particulars on the design. Next week we will outline the reasons behind the beauty of what we plan to do with this thing. First off, Neil Donnelly out of Brooklyn NY designed it. He is our go to guy and the first one that admonishes us when we poorly lay out a post on this hand crafted website he built for us. We were inspired by the artwork of Ellsworth Kelly, not to mention Donald Judd, of course Mondrian, and cosmically Agnes Martin.
Meensel-Kiezegem and Castellania
On the side panels we placed Belgian and Italian locales that serve as romantic outposts for our imagination. Meensel-Kiezegem and Castellania: from these places came the likes of Eddy Merckx and Fausto Coppi. Heroes around the world can imagine that somewhere in Meensel-Kiezegem and Castellania, proud city fathers built plaques or placed statues that proclaim that these men came from the soil underfoot, from mothers that loved them, and that Eddy and Fausto called these towns home. We place them with honor, in homage and hope they provide inspiration when we run out of gas on our local rides.
Later this week we will give a shout-out to the sponsors that made this jersey possible. If you are so inclined to wear one, send us an email and we will reserve one for you, as it is limited to 50 jerseys. Price will be $90 + shipping. We will be receiving men’s sizes x-small, small, medium, large, XXL, and 3XL. (Update: Thanks for all the pre orders, no more reservations. There will be a few extra in the store come April.)
