How my dream of designing something at the Olympics came true.
In 2014 I set the goal of designing something that competed at the Olympics. I knew that I was on the right path to do so, but I also knew that it was not just going to fall into my lap.
I was blogging showing my talents, creating mock country jerseys for every country I could think of, and messaging with riders and teams.
I had a lot of people interested, but it seemed like there was always some sort of barrier, it isn't easy to get everyone within a federation on board with a designer that isn't at Nike, Adidas, Santini, Louis Garneau etc. I even had a few jerseys and helmets lined up, only for those riders / nations to fall short of Olympic birth.
I was disheartened and didn't think I was going to be able to fulfill my dream and postpone it to 2020. Right when I had essentially given up Pete Delewski sent me a text to help with Chase Bicycles Olympic frame graphics. I was ecstatic and immediately went to work.
I had to get the design finalized, then figure out the shapes of the stickers by literally printing them out and cutting them on my own personal frame.
Once everything was finalized the cool guys at Tangent Products printed all the decals and glossed up the frames, before sending them out to medal hopeful Connor Fields and current World Champion Joris Daudet.
The frame I designed ended up winning the Olympic Men's final and it still is one of my most prized accomplishments. It was the most ambitious and long-term goal I had ever set outside of sport, and it felt great to achieve it.
I've struggled with setting goals since but in the past few months I've been a lot more motivated and on the right path. Thanks to everyone who has helped me along the way :)