I am a nostalgic person, and I like to save things that are important to me. I am the person that saved my academic fitness award from 6th grade, my varsity letters from high school, and every thank you I've gotten for every volunteer project. It was only fitting that once I started participating in big athletic events that I save mementos from them, too. 

At some point I realized that my bike riding became so significant and the numbers from rides I've done so large that they needed to be showcased somehow. I had a few friends and relatives scrap booked their way into showcasing things they were proud of. A dear friend set me up with everything I needed to make a beautiful biking scrapbook; paper, cutters, and the like. I spent some time on it, but it just didn't feel right. I imagined this giant scrapbook sitting on the coffee table. A house guest picks it up and leafs through the pages. After 5 pages of rectangles of paper with big numbers printed on them, they get bored. I got bored just trying to make the scrapbook. I wanted to save these things and showcase them, but a scrapbook just wasn't right. That was back in 2008.

Enter 2015. I am still biking. I still need to showcase all the big rides I am proud of. I came across an Etsy seller who made a display case and shelf. My partner volunteered to make one for me. I made it longer than the one's being sold, though the design is otherwise very similar. TrendyDisplay has a patent pending on the design, so I hope they are not bothered by my making my own. It is really a brilliant design. And, as you can see, it is already incredibly full!

To make the memories more rich, I pasted the backs of the ride numbers with photos, maps, and fliers from the ride. Some of the fronts have buttons or century patches. I hope to eventually clean up the top shelf so it looks less busy, but overall, I am more than happy with the result!