The 2nd Annual Shiv-away Giveaway

Well, it’s that time of year again. At least, I hope this is something that can continue to be an annual tradition. For regular readers (thank you) of this blog, you may recall the original “Bike For Sale. Ridden Hard. Put Away Wet” that ended with “Paid Forward.” At the time, I didn’t really know what to expect. I ended up being overwhelmed with over 40 incredible stories. And it morphed from selling the bike to someone whose story was a factor to being a giveaway to the person that I decided deserved it most based entirely on his (or her) story. 

The bike wasn’t entirely free, as you do have to buy a bike for someone else – by way of a $134 donation to World Bicycle Relief – AND make a $134 donation to a charity of your choice. To be clear, you do NOT have to do this in order to “apply.” The person who receives the bike must make this gesture as a “pay-it-forward” of his/her own. In other words, IF you get this bike, THEN you must give a bike to someone via WBR and also support your own charity. That same rule applies here along with some others that I came up with as the other giveaway progressed:

The bike comes (almost) ready to race and kick ass out of the box. It is exactly as I raced – and won – Ironman Texas and Ironman New York (minus the disc wheel and a few other small exceptions). 

• S-Works Shiv Tri in size MEDIUM (in fire engine Specialized red. Duh.). I’m 6’3″, but this bike is probably best for someone in the 5’8″ – 6’2″ range. Again, this is ONLY for a medium bike. My bike. 
• 172.5mm S-Works Quarq powermeter with SRAM 54/42 rings. 
• Complete SRAM RED drivetrain. 
• Zipp 808 Firecrest carbon clincher wheels with tires (though please buy some new ones for racing…).
• Zipp Vuka Aerobar (though with a different stem, because I’m rather partial to the no-longer-made SL145 -12deg Zipp stem on there… And you also do not get my custom Garmin bridge mount. Sorry.). 
• And I’ll include a couple of Fuelselage bladders. 
• Also comes with the more extreme offset post.

You have to provide your own saddle, mostly because I think everyone should try a saddle and know they like it; I like the Cobb SHC170, but I know it’s a bit minimalist for most people. But I’d certainly be happy if you chose a Cobb. 

You also have to provide pedals. 

The way this works is simple. You tell me: 

• *WHY* (this is key) 
• *YOU* (though you can write on behalf of someone else, as Drew Ziegler’s wife did) 
• *NEED* (and it must be a N-E-E-D) a bike. 

I have a trusty team of five or so people that helped me last time that I’ll enlist again in the evaluation of the various entries. Plus the various fact checking and internet sleuthing that I specialize in. So no funny stuff…

Questions, however, may come via Slowtwitch, Twitter, Facebook, the contact form at the right, etc, etc. Just don’t ask me on Instagram, because I pretty much only use that for outgoing, not inbound.

Alright, I think that’s it. Now let’s get someone a bike…