The day we do the Bike for a Buck drawing is easily one of my favorite days of the year. Not only do we have the opportunity to absolutely stoke someone out of their mind with a new bike, but we also get to pass along a hefty amount of money to a well deserving charity. On top of this, everyone who participates feels like they benefited because they donated to such a rad charity effort!

This time the bike we were giving away was a YT Industries Jeffsy. Pretty much the sickest trail bike out there right now, and the charity was the well deserving World Bicycle Relief. Throughout the contest, we were riddled with people commenting on their approval of both of these partners in crime.

Wednesday night the room at Pizza Port was filled with friends and the vibe was more upbeat than I can explain. Everyone was gathered to celebrate the announcing of both the winners, as well as the amount we had collectively raised for WBR. This was also our first shot at doing a Facebook live event, so I was a bit worried that it would go smoothly.

The evening began with Sonja Johnson, the local representative for World Bicycle Relief giving us an overview on their work. Which to my surprise, has expanded to several other regions outside of their initial focus on Rwanda. We had the chance to get an up close look at the Buffalo Bike, a very purpose built bike that enables people to get to school, jobs and medical help where the distance and rough dirt roads had previously made this nearly impossible.

Through the great community of mountain bikers that supported this campaign, we were able to hand over a check in the amount of $5754, which allows for a donation of 40 Buffalo bikes. I'd like to personally thank every one of you that supported this effort.

Thanks to several great partners who donated some great prizes, we spent the next several minutes drawing for the following items.  Below is a listing of the giveaways along with the associated winners & their location.  Please reach out to us if you are a winner and haven't replied to our emails!!

• Camelbak Skyline Hydration Packs: Jeff Kulp (AZ), Shannon Nicholson (NC), Matthew Britt (VA) & Albert Lee (CA)
• MICA Movement Watches: Rebecca Waters (CA), Simon Hodgson (TX) & Ian Day (MA)
• SRAM Guide/Level Brakeset: Kester Spindler (CO)
• BIKE Magazine subscriptions: Jim Kogelman (CA), Carlito Aguit (NM), Erik Soliwon (IL) & Pete Hall (CA)
• Absolute Black oval chain rings: David Rhine (CA) & Kester Spindler (CO)
• Crank Brothers Mallet3 Pedals: Scott Kouns (CA)
• Rockshox PIKE forks - Seth House (TX) & Jason Dostal (WI)

After the drawing for the PIKE fork, someone in the room yelled out, "Pull another ticket for a PIKE fork, I've got a brand new one in my garage that I want to donate as well!"  

If you get a chance, jump over to Michael Owen's Facebook page and let him know he's a stand up guy and thanks for this kind deed. When I asked Mike about it later, he simply stated, "There was a whole lot of giving going on in the room, and I wanted to get in on the action." 

Congrats to all the winners and especially to Andrew Haring (IN), the winner of the bike. Andrew has been building his own bikes up from scratch (yes, frame and all), so he will be getting a much needed equipment upgrade!  We'll have a fun write up on Andrew in a follow up blog, so be on the lookout for that.

Again, thank you to all the companies who donated product, and to the thousands of mountain bikers who pitched into the cause as well. I'm proud to call you all my friends, and be a part of such a rad community.

Nate Miller