The Story of the Saying on the back of the T-shirt

Here's one reason why this whole "global economy/internet/no borders" world we live in is kinda cool sometimes:

When we moved here 3.5 years ago I started a series of limited edition shop t-shirts. The idea was that we'd pick a quote from somewhere, make 3-4 dozen shirts and when they were gone....they were gone for good. Then we'd do another one. We've done about 10 or so @ this point.....displaying wisdom from Abbey, Merckx, Charles Schultlz and a buncha lesser known folk......even yours truly. This is the story of one of them and why we had to break our 'when they're gone they're gone" rule.

It was my buddy Chris' idea. "Brother", he said, "Next time you need a quote for a shirt I know what'cha oughta go with". There was a great article in a Rivendell Reader* a while back, written by a guy that had his life turned around for the better by a bicycle. He lost a buncha weight, met a woman, changed his life and wrote about it. The last line of the article was the quote that Chris had in mind. "Could the secret of life be so simple? Just love someone and ride your bike every day?"

Well.....that shirt was our fastest selling t-shirt EVER. They were gone in a flash and for the first time I was tempted to do a 2nd run. Especially after I started getting calls from a young lady in Boston who said that she'd seen someone in a bar there wearing one and had to have one. I tried to get across to her the concept of the whole "limited edition" thing.......she just wouldn't/couldn't understand.

Then I got an e-mail from Edinburgh Scotland. Check this out - a couple that had ridden their tandem around the world in 2004-2006 had stopped @ the camp that my son Samuel works at in the summers. Turns ouththat the camp director (my best climbing buddy KB) was the preacher @ their wedding back in the day. They saw Samuel wearing that shirt and that line became the last line of their Trip Blog. Friends of theirs in Scotland read it and got ahold of me. Well..that was enough to make me decide that it was time to break the rules and have a second run done. Thise shirts have been shipped to Edinbourgh, Colorado Springs, Tennessee and several other places so if you see one...........don't be surprised!

By the way...............for those of you that are wondering - I tried my damnedest to get the okay from Rivendell to use that line. They never got back to me.

Not that this was intended to be an advertisement, but we do have a few left. Lemme know if you want one.

I just think it's kind of cool, y'know? In a "It's a Small World" sort of way. Then again...I don't get out much and am easily amused! ( Too bad that I had finally lost the number of the persistant chick in Boston by then!)

MC

*The Reader is the best bike magazine EVER and has more good reading in one edition than Bicycling, MountainBike Action and Bike will publish in total if they last a 100 years. Join Rivendell. Get the Reader. Alas - it comes out (at most) 4 times a year. I have the complete collection here if yawanna check it out.