Contest Update (02/17/12): See below (bottom of post) for winners!
Anyone who has read GearJunkie for years knows of our affinity toward the Buff. These hard-to-categorize “headwear” pieces have garnered mucho props from the publication’s founder, Stephen Regenold, who once noted in a story called “Greatest Gear of Five Years” that “Nothing else I’ve tested over the past five years has stuck with me as much as the Original Buff.”
All that praise for a do-rag? Oh, but wait. . . Regenold and many of the GearJunkie staff and race team members almost live in their Buffs year-round when active, including using them as headbands in the summer to wick sweat and block sun, as beanie-type hats in the spring and fall for warmth, and as balaclavas during the wintertime tucked in underneath helmets or insulated hats. The thin fabric hugs the head and neck and can be configured into a dozen shapes depending on the venue and the temp outdoors.
This week, we received a crate of Original Buffs made custom for GearJunkie.com. For now, the box of Buffs is untouched and safe in the office here. But wait, you want one for your own? OK, as the first of a few Buff-themed contests we’re running this month we’ll award five readers their own GJ do-rag. Just follow these instructions. . .
1) Click the “Like” button on this article (this lets your Facebook connections see your affinity toward the Buff, and GearJunkie, too!)
2) Enter in the comments below a response to “Why I desperately need a custom GearJunkie.com Buff mailed to my home this month!”
We’ll pick the five most fun, creative, or true (desperate?) answers and ship out a Buff to each winner. Simple. Watch for more contests on GearJunkie over the coming month, too. You might win a Buff. And you might just become an adherent to the “do-all do-rag” in the end after all!
Contest Update (02/17/12): Hard choices! But after 125+ comments we had to pick some winners. So many good responses. Thanks to all who chimed in. A few stood above the fray, and we need you guys below to email us asap to claim your prizes. So, we picked seven readers as winners, and there were so many more good ones, but. . .
- Jennifer Dengler, who will wear a GJ Buff while giving birth (!) was a winner, hands down
- Reader Tabea Bruce wrote a poem, and “Tim” wrote a haiku, both of which will not win any literary prizes, though we did appreciate the effort
- Next was a “we felt sorry for him” case with reader “John” (He posted: “I have never won anything in any kind of contest. Everybody says I’m a born loser. Please save me from this horrible fate by sending me a GJBuff.”) Desperation works some times!
- Next up, Tamera is thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail, and she is getting a “Buddhist Nun” haircut, and thus NEEDS a Buff. (We understand, sort of.)
- Another long-journey reader, James Moss is cycling from England to China. Yeah, he deserves a Buff for the trip.
- Finally, on the humor front we laughed hard at Chris Duerkop’s unique Buff-inspired story: “I actually already have [a Buff]. But it was given to me by a Taiwanese businessman after a bad karaoke performance, so every time I wear it I’m reminded of that pitchy rendition of ‘Careless Whisper.’ Now it just sits in the bottom of a Rubbermaid tub. But sometimes I can still hear that melancholy sax solo in the distance….”
Nice, Mr. Duerkop. Send us your address and we’ll get you a new Buff without the karaoke vibes. Again, thanks to all who contributed. We’ll run another GJ Buff contest next month. Stay tuned, and keep your Buff on!
