Jordan Carr is the marketing manager for Club Ride Apparel in Sun Valley, Idaho, a former tech editor at Mountain Flyer Magazine and a ripping rider who enjoys blasting singletrack around the West on his SS REEB with Gates Carbon Drive. Carr sent us these images of a recent trip to the White Rim outside Moab, Utah.
“Riding with friends in beautiful places is why so many of us appreciate the simple yet elegant contraption we all passionately refer to as the bicycle,” Jordan writes on the Club Ride blog.
Amen brother.
And just to make you all jealous of Jordan’s life in Sun Valley:
Back home in Ketchum, Idaho, on the Cow Creek trail.
Tim Lucking and Taylor Nye of Team Gates Carbon Drive traveled to western Colorado to compete in the 18 Hours of Fruita last weekend. Racing on their belt drive singlespeeds against geared competitors, the speedy duo won the two-man category. Lucking recounts the winning race strategy below.
Taylor Nye and I hoped for a podium spot, but that seemed optimistic given that we were racing our single-speeds against geared teams. We drove out Friday so we would have time to set up camp and get in a couple of laps and determine our gearing, settling on a 46 x 26 sprocket setup. It’s a relatively flat course with two punchy climbs. The rest is winding single- and double-track through sage and juniper bushes while skirting the twisty edge of Highline Lake. There were no long flat sections. Perfect for a single speed.
As the sun set on tent-town we got 2-3 hours of sleep before waking for the midnight start. Taylor was going for the hole-shot and had a great starting position, but the race director pulled the old switcheroo and started the race backwards, so Taylor started at the back of the pack. The race began and Taylor hammered like crazy and came through in 2nd position in the 2-man category after the first lap.
The night laps were tough because there was no wind and the course was dusty with lots of ambient dust in the air, making it difficult to pick our lines. We chased the leaders and caught them 7 laps in. We continued on through the night, morning, and afternoon knocking out fast laps with no mechanicals. The Spot Rockers gobbled up the twisty trails that became more wash-boarded by the lap, the TRP Dash Carbon brakes allowed us to wait until the last possible second to scrub speed before diving into a corner, the Lazer Nirvana helmets kept our noggins cool and protected, the Primal kits kept us comfortable all day, the Crank Brothers cockpit parts ensured that we were dialed for ergonomic efficiency, and of course the Gates Carbon drive required no maintenance all day even in the billowing dust.
With fast transitions we were able to lap the field by the mid-afternoon and finish in first place with 32 laps completed in 18 hours. That worked out to 117 miles per person. Not too shabby for a couple of single-speeders! We were wrecked afterward and enjoyed our sleeping bags greatly.
It was a wonderful event with fun competitors and hosts. It’s great to be part of a sport where you can go out on the course and be competitive and polite at the same time, then come back and hang out to swap stories when it’s all said and done.”
Congrats to Tim and Taylor.
Bella is an Italian greyhound who likes to go for bike rides. Her favorite bike is the BMC masschallenge owned by Jim Ochowicz, the president and general manager of BMC Racing Team. Jim’s daughter Elli is pictured above taking Bella for a spin. Elli, Bella and the Ochowicz family members all use the bike for running errands and pedaling to their favorite lunch spots. House guests also use it to get in a workout while visiting. But the favorite use is for taking Bella out for some fresh air.
Gates Carbon Drive is an official supplier of the BMC Racing Team and provides the squad with BMC Lifestyle bikes featuring Gates Carbon Drive. The BMC Racing Team is the only UCI pro tour team with an official lifestyle/commuter bike. Bella is the only dog with an official lifestyle bike.
Click here for a 10-second video clip as Bella takes a spin.
If you’ve got a little pooch you’d like to put in the panniers, check out the BMC urbanchallenge below. This is the same bike that the BMC Racing Team has on all its team trucks. Bella says you’ll love it.
Jordan Czajka is the technical services manager for Advanced Sports, the parent company of Breezer, Fuji and Kestrel, so he knows how to wrench a bike. Also, apparently, when it’s Miller time. Jordan sent us these photos of his customized Raleigh HiLife cyclocross bike that he retro-fitted with Carbon Drive.
Jordan knee slides over a barrier during a cross race, looking mighty stylish.
“I built the frame set up with a bunch of different parts trying to stick with the color theme of the frame,” Jordan says of the Miller High Life-inspired bike. “I rode and raced it for a while with a chain. Once I saw the Gates Carbon Drive system I knew I wanted it. My HiLife seemed like the perfect bike to set up with belt drive.”
“A buddy of mine who is a welder and a machinist carefully cut out a piece of the frame and the end of the drop out to allow the belt to pass through. He then welded a piece of bar stock in between the two dropout saver plates to fill in the cut out section of frame. The drop out savers slide onto the drop out from the rear and the bolts keep everything in place.”
While Gates encourages cyclists to buy a stock belt-compatible frame, Jordan clearly had the chops to do this retro-fit. The resulting bike has served him well for many years of cyclocross racing and commuting.
“HiLife is perfect for cyclocross: no gears to stop working, no chain to clog up and rust, just a perfect setup. Washing the bike after a race or ride is so simple. I ride this bike everywhere and love the simplicity of it.”
As the brewers at Miller might say, it’s the champagne of bikes.
Gates Carbon Drive has partnered with White Industries to create the CDX Freewheel, a screw-on freewheel sprocket that marries the clean, quiet and strong Gates belt drive system with White’s high performance and strength. The Gates Carbon Drive CDX Freewheel brings singlespeed hub reliability and performance to a new level. It consists of a Carbon Drive CenterTrack™ sprocket mated to White’s sealed bearing freewheel system and features:
• A high-load capacity sealed bearing cartridge that is easy to clean and service.
• A heat-treated 8620 alloy steel body that is case hardened and nickel plated.
The CDX Freewheel eliminates the oscillation and looseness that is common among some freewheels on the market. Simply screw it on your fixed hub for the ultimate in belt drive performance. “This partnership with White Industries provides bike builders and consumers with more options for running a Carbon Drive system,” says Todd Sellden, director of Gates Carbon Drive Systems. “It also exemplifies how Gates is eager to collaborate with industry partners to integrate Carbon Drive with other leading components in the bike industry.”
CDX Freewheel is built on the ENO freewheel platform from White Industries, regarded as an industry leader in freewheel components. “More and more of our customers are interested in running Gates Carbon Drive on their freewheel bikes,” says Doug White, founder of White Industries. “When we decided to team up with Gates the goal was to create a belt drive freewheel that is durable, reliable, and easily maintained. The sealed cartridge bearing is impervious to mud, grit and water, and is easy to install.”
Like all Gates Carbon Drive belts, the Carbon Drive CDX Freewheel is made in the USA. It comes initially in a 22-tooth size and costs $275. Purchase the Gates Carbon Drive CDX Freewheel by contacting carbondrive@gates.com.
