Most folks who bought my book, “The Jersey Project,” now out of print, (Thank you) thumbed through the pages to look at all the jerseys and remenisce. Then it was put on the coffee table.
The next few posts will be the text that came with each page of jerseys, starting with the Introduction.
In July of 2010, I took my son to the
Netherlands to watch the Grand
Depart of the Tour de France with
my Dutch friend of many years, Rini
Wagtmans.
Rini and I had met more than 30 years
ago at the Tour de L’Avenir. I was
working as soigneur for the first U.S.
team to be invited to this prestigious
bike race. This meeting would develop
into a lifelong friendship. Rini was a
former pro who had won stages in the
Tour de France, had worn the yellow
jersey and was a soldier for Eddie Merckx
on the Molteni team.
When the festivities were winding down
and the Tour was moving on, Rini and I
met at a café for a quiet lunch, and he
presented me with a copy of an elegant
new book titled Koerstrui. The book
contained beautiful archival photographs
of sixty years’ worth of cycling jerseys,
mostly European.
I could tell by the look on Rini’s face
what the jerseys in this book meant
to him. As I read Rini’s foreword to
the book, I realized how influential he
was in the development of the original
manuscript. The pride of ownership was
palpable. I knew instinctively that I was
compelled to add the American jersey
story to this wonderful book.
Rini introduced me to the author, John
Van Ierland, and he in turn introduced
me to the owner of this incredible
collection of jerseys, Henk Theuns.
They were excited at the prospect of
adding a chapter of American jerseys
to this unique historical document,
and I began the process of connecting
the U. S. cycling jerseys from my era
to the European scene represented in
Koerstrui.
Bill ‘Bikeguy’ Humphreys