Fast. FAMILY. Fun!
Our Family … Chainbuster & YOU.
It all started with a Facebook post!
No, seriously … maybe not our road to being race promoters, but our entry into mountain bike racing started with a Facebook post.
In June of 2016 my wife, Dawn, saw a post about an info meeting for a local mountain bike team in Athens, GA. We had no idea what a race team was, but we owned mountain bikes so we considered ourselves cyclists! We had no idea at that time the path that we would eventually follow!
One NICA season later, our youngest son was hooked on racing.
In the NICA off season, he wanted to race every race we could find. In January 2017, we lined up for our first non-NICA race at The Gobbler at Georgia International Horse Park. As the year progressed, we hit at least one race per month including a spectacularly miserable Red Clay Ramble in the brutal August heat. But we were hooked! Also, I have a chronic illness and found that riding improved my health and racing provided the impetus needed to train. Training equals riding which equates to improved health!
Our second NICA season rolled around, and this time we were on the front line of the season as league volunteers. As a family, we had been brainstorming things we could do within the cycling industry. Though our occupations were not connected to events, our educational backgrounds contained degrees in Recreation and Program Planning. Why? Because after undergrad, our plan was to continue to seminary for a Master’s degree related to ministry, and one of my mentors had advised us to have as much fun as possible with our undergrad degree! Funny how things work!
Before the third race of the 2017 Georgia League season …
I had an opportunity to sit down with our friend, and Georgia League director, Kenny Griffin. In the course of conversation, I mentioned my desire to do something in the cycling industry, and knowing his past connection to Chainbuster, I mentioned interest in the series if he ever heard anything about a potential change of ownership. That was on a Thursday. The following Monday I received an email containing a confidentiality agreement regarding the potential sale of Chainbuster. It was exciting! And terrifying!
Negotiations began in October. Truthfully, they were pretty painless. Of course, apprehension existed on our part related to the purchase of a business that we had no clue about in an industry that was completely new to us, but through much prayer, we both had an undeniable pull towards Chainbuster. It’s a decision that we’ve not regretted!
More than just racing … Community.
One of the things that we enjoy most in life and in mountain biking is building community. We have tried to be intentional in making Chainbuster events feel like family reunions. Our tagline is “Fast! Family! FUN!” Those are three words that we hope define the series, but the most important aspects for us are “family” and “fun”! There are dual meanings involved! The most obvious, and one that brings us joy, is seeing entire families racing our events! Multiple families from multiple states have Mom, Dad, and the kids all lined up for our events! However, “family” is also what each racer is to us. We don’t have customers or clients. We have family!
In 2018, heading into our first year, we had no idea what to expect. As with any new business, there was a definitely a learning curve. In 2021, heading into our fourth year, we certainly won’t say we’ve got it all figured out, but we are stoked to see how our Chainbuster has grown. We are thrilled to see youth grow in their confidence. We are excited to see our friends return year after year, and to welcome new members into the family. Most of all we are grateful that you are part of our story. If you’ve never joined us, then we hope you’ll let us be a part of yours!
- Jason Chandler
