By now you might have seen the sweetest chainkeeper on the market that pretty much negates the need for a bashguard/chainguide and an inside chain-keeper…the Pauls Components Chain Keeper:

If you do wanna go with bashguards, check out these carbon fiber pieces from Portland’s own Ruckus Components…they also make a collar to keep the chain on your SS cog:

And don’t forget straight outta Tualatin, Oregon…Erin Badaracco’s bashguards aka BBG

What are your fav components for the upcoming CX season? Singlespeed or geared…

-buddhabelly

Hey all,

I would first like to introduce myself (although Will kinda did already). I’m Jordan, the new guy in the PAC NW. I am youngin’ (20) but grew up racing XC in SoCal and am jonesin’ for Cross season.  Enough about me lets get to the ride.

Will and I met up around 10:00 AM and headed to Forest Park.  We were both eager to see how our bikes would handle with the changes we had made to them.  It was a bit chilly and wet aka perfect weather.  We went up Leif Erickson Rd to Saltzman Rd to a short little trail Holstein showed Will that linked us back to Saltzman.  From there we made our way to Firelane 7 which was quite a fast stretch and then headed back towards the trailhead on Thurman Rd.  All in all about 20 miles of gravel road and singletrack that made for a great ride.

On a side note, a rider in another kit came from out of nowhere on his geared cross bike. I told myself to just let him pass, but then I saw the look on his face like he could just blow by us because we were on our single speeds.  So, I let him pass and when he looked back a few yards later expecting us to be eating his dust, I was right on his rear wheel and could have blown right past him.  The look on that man’s face when he saw me right behind him was priceless, he was in complete and utter disbelief. It was awesome

Jordan… in the market for a nickname

For those of you hard-core riders that find yourself on the web way too much, you’ve likely stumbled across the following games:

Free Rider 2

Cyclomaniacs

Enjoy.

-buddhabelly

Change your life.  I am.

http://hefnutrition.blogspot.com/

Bryan

Maybe it’s Lance, Gandhi, the dude who invented stretch SUV limos…whatever. For 2 Crossniacs, it might just be Super Grover.

for Brian & Jim

The proof is in the pictures:

Jim Hendrickson aka Holstein @ the Salem Short Track Series:

 Brian Johnson aka r_r_beej @ Portland Short Track Series (look for the goofy Mary bar):

Link to Video

Frankly, I’m more of a Snuffleupagus fan myself…maybe Optimus Prime too.

-buddhabelly

Sweet music video from some hometown OBRA racers. You might even catch that the bike he’s riding is a Performance Tirreno in the video:

Performance

-Buddhabelly

Turned out a pretty dismal showing at races this year…hoping to change things as we head into the ‘cross season. Check out my race results for ’09 so far at my Loop’d page. Just click on results to see what I’ve done.

steel is real

waiting for my ride

• Robke
• Smitty
• J-Bone
• i_r_beej
• Jordan
• Holstein

He very well could be the youngest racer in the Syndicate…sorry, your kids in mini-jerseys don’t really count.

The Pac NW AllStarz welcome Jordan Frasier (age 20) to the Crossniacs.

What does he bring to the syndicate?

• skirt-chasing
• singlespeed domination on the road & the trail
• a Dopers Suck mentality
• an inappropriate sense of humor
• horrible comedic timing

What this means for the Syndicate:

• contributing to the delinquency of a minor…nuff said

Portland Twilight Crit

Jordan (his nickname is pending) and I hit up the Portland Twilight Criterium. It’s a big, big race with the best riders in the region coming out to show off their pothole, manhole & storm-grate dodging abilities. Even with that said, nothing prepared the Cat 3/4′s from anticipating having to dodge a stray tennis ball from some stupid kids playing next to the course. Also, during the Cat 1′s, I experienced my first exploding tubular (sounded like a gunshot) and saw a guy bend a Reynolds rear wheel in half.

The Kiwis from Land Rover/Orbea made their presence known. For complete results, follow this link

Link to a short clip from a lap of the race: http://www.facebook.com/v/1192736824993

Also ran into J-Bone at the races that night. He had the opportunity to meet Jordan.

-Buddhabelly

http://www.mnscs.com/ has all the details.

I had a grudge with this course. Last time I raced it (local Thursday night race) I trashed my front wheel.

I had company, brother Chris came out to cut his teeth for the first time. He borrowed by K2 Full suspension, dropped the seat down about a foot, road around the parking lot then pretty much pulled into the starting line for the race.

There are two places to pass on this trail, the first dirt single track climb if you ride the ruff and then the short dirt road before the tight single track switch backs. The last place is the short open area as you open back up onto the main face of the ski hill.

Revenge is best severed from the podium.

All Cyclocross from this point on. Ladric