The original idea struck in 1985 while standing on a lonely rural road amidst vast almond groves, late on a mid-May evening, nearing the end of a long day of marking the 200 mile Davis Double Century route. I had a small remnant of Caltrans yellow reflective heavy foil adhesive tape in one hand and a gummed up pair of scissors in the other.

“It sure would be great to have some pre-made arrows!” I announced to my route marking crew. We only used the reflective foil tape to make arrows on the last quarter of the route, where many riders would be riding at night. The previous 150 miles were marked the old school way, with many cans of yellow spray paint, two brooms and lots of sweat.

Roll ahead twenty years to mid-2005. After having ridden on too many poorly marked century routes and tours every year, the idea of creating “pre-made arrows” kept coming back. “Ok, dammit, I’m doing this!” I finally said to myself. So I did some internet searching, made a few calls, and I took some notes on my ideas and discoveries.

I concluded that this new route marking product needed three main attributes: to be very bright and obvious, be easy to apply, and be non-toxic so it could be left behind. I experimented with various arrow shapes and sizes, and I used brightly colored 8.5 x 11 paper, a jig to cut the arrows, and cans of spray glue. Those paper prototypes worked amazingly well! (See photos below.)

In early 2006, I called the manufacturer of the brightest colored paper I could find. Their friendly customer service rep directed me to my first and only manufacturer, a family owned die-cut label manufacturer, now a 91 year old company, based in Massachusetts.

A few phone calls and design revisions later, Paul, the owner, and I had a production agreement and the firstRouteArrowswere born! (See third photo) With help from a friend in the burgeoning “e-commerce” world, theRouteArrows.comwebsite launched.

I spent the winter mailing out sample packets to hundreds of cycling events all over the US. The first online sale came on March 20th of 2007 – a single roll of Pink! With that sale I knew I was onto something and the total rolls sold in 2007 came to 130!

RouteArrows.comwas initially just a hobby, my gift to the cycling world, which has given me so much. I had been in the trades for over 25 years and a licensed General Contractor doing kitchen and bath remodels, repairs and additions. Then one afternoon knee deep in a half completed bathroom, it hit me like a bucket of wet mortar – I was burned out!

I spent a few days pondering my future, but then I realized I had this viable business in my back pocket! So I jumped off the cliff, sold my work truck and switched my contractor’s license to “Inactive”.