Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 74, September 2015 | Seite 58

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Go Girl!

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By Amy Beth McDouga

My idea for a T-shirt/gift range for cyclists
started in December 2013 when I worked at a
bike shop over the Christmas period.

Many people asked for a gift for the beloved
bike-fanatic in their lives. It can be really hard
to buy a gift for a cyclist – We all know how
pedantic we can be with the tools and kit we
use – so customers usually walked out with a
couple of bombs, maybe a bike light, chamois
cream (always useful) or small multi-tool for
their stockings.
I thought that, as a sales person, my life would
be so much easier if we sold cool casual tops,
mugs or key rings … and why aren’t these for
sale?
I soon forgot about the idea as I moved to
Nelspruit to be closer to my new sponsor,
Valencia Wholesalers, and Coach Bosseau
Boshoff. I focussed on my riding, and started
getting really good results in the National
Marathon series.
I won the Old Mutual Joberg2C and got
selected for the SA marathon team. I was in
the best form of my life for SA Champs and
on track for World Champs when, without
warning, I developed a bad case of Achilles
Tendonitis. This marked the end of my racing
season for 2014. Quite devastated, I was
forced to take seven weeks off to heal.

To keep from going mad, my over-active
mind wandered back to shirts and gifts. Also,
without racing, finances took a major toll… As
they say: ‘necessity breads innovation’.
I started thinking of ideas and filled a
scrapbook. Everyone who saw these ideas
loved them and it was then that I decided
that this is what I am going to do. I wasn’t too
sure how but I’m always up for a challenge
and I thought what the heck, I’m young,
I have nothing to lose (life savings can be
resaved) and everything to gain.
As for the company name “Over the Bars”,
I basically brain-stormed a list of cycling
slangs and jargon. It’s no secret that, during
my career, I have spent an above average
amount of time over the bars …
Soon after, I got labels made with washing
instructions: 100% pure bike rider. Be sure to
pick bugs from teeth. Clean ears thoroughly.
And then the top washing icons.

I then had to narrow down and pick a few
of my ideas for the starting range. I have four
designs in my women’s range and three in
the men’s range. Without going into detail for
every design, they are basically a combination
of my imagination, inspiration from friends and
the internet.

Apart from her successes as a competitive mountain biker, Amy
Beth McDougall has added T-shirt design to her resume.

12

ISSUE 12 SEPTEMBER 2015 / www.moderncyclist.co.za

Amy Beth McDougall has a couple of
national mountain biking titles under her
belt, and previously won the Joberg2c.
And now she has designed, printed
and distributed her own T-shirt range to
selected bike shops and stores across
South Africa. Photo supplied.

It is no
exaggeration to
say it took seven
months longer than I
anticipated to launch the range. I had initially
planned to launch it in November but with
all the hiccups along the way, it eventually
happened in June. Launching a T-shirt range
in the middle of winter is not ideal, but I am just
glad it is out there!
It was 19 June when I got my first order from
Sprocket and Jack in Parkwood. Since then,
Valencia Wholesalers in Nelspruit have put the
full range on its shelves, Tool-Up in Centurion
have become a retailer and Bruce Reyneke
West Rand will be selling them too. As I write
this, I wait for more stock and am seeing more
shops.
Over The Bars is in the truest sense, in its infancy
stages. I have so many exciting ideas and
visions for the future, but before I delve back
into that scrapbook, I need to focus on selling
my opening range and grow my capital.
I am fortunate to have my MTB Skills Clinics,
another passion of mine as a steady form of
income. As for racing, I have endure, stage
races, marathon and single speed SA and
World Champs in the pipeline.
The road I have chosen has not been the
easiest or conventional by any means, but
it has been an adventure, and I plan on
keeping it that way!