Guest Contributor Contest, Call for Prizes

There are a little less than four weeks to the start guest contributor contest (details here). Share your story!

My thanks to the following for the additional prizes which have arrived.

--Chamois cream from Enzo’s ButtonHole Chamois Cream. Enzo’s combines melaleuca oil, hamamelis, the Wu-Chu-Yu herb and organic silicone compounds to produce the ultimate protection during those long or grueling cycling rides. Visit www.enzoscyclingproducts.com for more information and ordering online.I found this review online: "With any chamois cream, the first thing you notice is the smell, and ButtonHole smells great…like a combination of vanilla and peppermint. I wish I had a candle that smelled like this for our office. The texture is just right, not to thick, not too thin, and it spreads easily on the chamois. Since it’s a tub and note a tube, I usually don’t apply directly to the skin in case I need to double dip. ButtonHole is the only chamois cream I used for the duration of the Breck Epic, a six day stage race put on by Mike McCormack to test the sanity of the average mountain biker. I spent somewhere between 3 and 6+ hours in the saddle each day, usually on the high end of that range, and at the end of the week had no chafing or irritation to speak of. There were days when it was hot, sections that were wet, and at 13,000+ feet, plenty of times that were darn near freezing, so I’d say it was a solid test of the product’s “staying power”. I’d highly recommend it."

Grazie Enzo!



--Jennifer of FreeBirdVelo has contributed two of her Italian themed T-shirts. Two winners will be able to choose their designs from among these:

"Am I riding too fast for you?"
"You're not as fast as you look."
"Which way to the podium?"
Jennifer sells these and other products on ETSY, take a look here.



--My friend over at Velo-Retro donated this custom musette (feed bag):
Velo-Retro has many unique T-shirts and musettes based upon vintage cycling subjects, and copies of many vintage bike catalogs. And, they can customize T-shirts and musettes for you or your group.


Previously arrived gifts:

--Cycling poster courtesy of Bicyclegifts.com; see prizes. Winner winner will be able to choose from one of three designs.


-Pullovers, hats, socks and more, plus Campagnolo 75th anniversay pins from CycleItalia; see here and here.
ICJ Reader contribution contest will run 1 January to 15 February, 2011. Details here.

Stories for the Italian Cycling Journal about rides, granfondos, having a good time cycling in Italy, Italian cycling history, etc. are very welcome. Contact me at veronaman@gmail.com. There are more than 1,600 stories in this blog. The search feature to the right works best for finding subjects in the blog. There is also an Italian weather widget along the right side and a translate button at the bottom so you can translate each page. What I'm riding.