I had the opportunity to work with Bradley Smith on a police themed helmet design. The final product turned out absolutely amazing! When I approached him about writing up a blog post about the process, he sent me a write up that blew me away -

"After being part of the local cycling community, I started to see Ross' work in a lot of places. From helmets, to shoes, to a local cafe, to features on the internet. I really started thinking about a design for my helmet at the beginning of the year, after loosing a co-worker in the line of duty. Being a police officer for 10 years now, I've seen a lot of good and bad. I've been to a lot of police officer's funerals; I've even lost some really close friends in the line of duty.

I had two distinct images in my head when I came to Ross. I knew I wanted something along the lines of Saint Michael, and the Thin Blue Line. Saint Michael knows what it means to face the threat of evil and imminent danger. The Thin Blue Line represent a stance that police officers are all in together to protect citizens. I even threw in an idea for the birth date of my son. After talking back and forth for a couple days, Ross sent me a rough sketch of an idea he had for a cross and shield representing Saint Michael. Needless to say, that blew me away. Ross teased me for a couple of days about how amazing this was going to look; but somehow ignored my requests to send me a teaser picture. LOL!

When it came time to pick it up for the reveal, let's just say 'blown away' was an understatement! I immediately said to myself that it's too beautiful to even wear. It's quite literally the coolest piece of artwork I've ever seen. The color inside of the Saint Michael cross, was simply amazing. On the other side of the helmet, Ross nailed it again. The Thin Blue Line Flag looks to be charging into battle, and blowing in the wind.

Cycling definitely brings out more creativity and expression than I ever imagined. There's some stark difference between this type of expression, and policing. But, there's also some commonalities. There's great people, and life-long friends to be made. Besides the fact that this helmet is 100% awesome, it opens a dialog about what this artwork means to me. I love telling the story! Needless to say, thank you Ross!”