C.O.G. 100 Update

Fom Bike Rags- The Men's SS Champ jersey design for the C.O.G. 100

The C.O.G. 100 registration opened January 2nd and within three days it sold out! Both N.Y. Roll and I were blown away by the response. Thank you to all who registered.

However; we were a bit disappointed that we didn't get more women to sign up. Where are the women single speeders? I know they exist, because in the last Trans Iowa, we had several who were rocking the single gear.

So, N.Y. Roll and I decided, based upon feedback we got, to offer 25 more spots. (NOTE: Some have already been spoken for, so don't dilly-dally!) We also set aside five spots solely for Women. Now one of the other 20 could be taken by any women as well, but we wanted to reserve at least five specifically for females.

By the way, here is the LINK TO REGISTER.

Next we have the jersey design for the champions only. It was a design idea that N.Y. Roll and I came up with and that Bike Rags is going to reproduce for us on a quality jersey to be given to the winner of the Male and Female classes.

The inspiration was from two main sources. The stripes colors represent Iowa's agricultural heritage, specifically from John Deere. The central "shield" icon is a derivative of the State Highway Patrol's symbol seen on their patrol cars over the decades. The body colors are something tongue in cheek we decided to do. We will let you come up with that idea source on your own. Again- there are no plans to offer these to the public. We would consider a different body color with the shield reading "C.O.G. 100" instead of "Iowa SS Champ", if we get enough people that say they would buy them. Price would be determined by the numbers of committed buyers.

The Women's jersey design.

The back of each design is just a simple continuation of the stripes, by the way. We wanted to keep it very simple, easy to read, and classy. I think we accomplished that with the excellent help from Tony of Bike Rags, who by the way, is a pleasure to be dealing with.

So, the hats are also ordered, which you can see an example of by visiting the C.O.G. 100 site and looking down the page at the "Latest News" section.

We have also been working on an exclusive, limited edition print of the C.O.G. 100 art for each rider. These will be signed and numbered by the artists- myself and my daughter, so I'm pretty psyched about this. Hopefully I can find a good way for everyone to get them home without destroying them!

N.Y. Roll and I are also scheming up a plan for second through fourth place awards. We have a good idea of what it is we want to do, and a prototype will be made soon. I won't give away more than this, so stay tuned for further updates on that facet of this inaugural event.

Finally I have to get cracking on number plates for the riders. That will happen later once registration either fills up or ends. We already have the plates, and expect them to be just like the old Trans Iowa plates- Tyvek, plain and simple. We plan on providing pipe cleaners and zip ties at the start line so you can get those on your bikes.

We are also contemplating a "check in" the evening before, so stay tuned on that. I don't know how many folks would be coming in early, so we will play that by ear. I also have to contact a local establishment to see if this would be an okay deal to do. Stay tuned....

Also, an "after-event" gathering is in the works, which will allow riders to get together to swap war stories and have a bite to eat and something to drink. Again- stay tuned on details.