Dear Ironman Texas,
I wanted to write you this letter and talk about our relationship! When we first started courting, I had so many high hopes for what we would be able to have in terms of a relationship. Things started off very rocky in year one, but I knew deep in my heart we would be able to make it work. After some long talks, year two of our relationship was solid, but still not what I believed we could have together-it was a perfect stepping stone to the ultimate. As we were about to celebrate our 3rd anniversary, I believed things were going to flourish, but you had to go and break my chain of trust in you. Please! I hope you reconsider your feelings for me, as I am committed to us and plan to cement our relationship in the future.
Lots of love, Chris
Well, now that’s taken care of….This past Saturday was great and also SUCKED!
After a long winter of training and getting past some winter sickness, I was heading back to IMTX knowing I was fit and ready to race for the win in the North American Championships.
Anyone who follows my progress would know that during the last 3 or 4 races I struggled with my swim, and I had been working hard at getting it back to where it needed to be. So when the cannon fired on Saturday, I was actually very happy to be sitting in that second pack and, to be honest, the easiest swim I have had in 45 Ironmans. I was able to cover any surges easily and was just happy to be racing. One might think I should have been pushing the pace to limit the damage to the group of 5 up front, but I knew that IMTX is a different beast than any other IM, and was 100% confident that things would come together on the bike.
Jumping onto the bike I again was stoked! My cycling legs had come to the party! So all sounds great, right? Not quite! It was roughly about mile 5 of the bike that I knew something was not right with my drive train on my bike. That first 20 miles of the course in The Woodlands is FAST! Fast as in I would need to use the 13/12 and 11 on the rear cassette. This is where my problems for the day started. I could get the chain to go down there but then my drive chain would jam up with two pedal strokes. So the 54/14 was the best I had, and when you are going 55+ kph at time that is not a very big gear.
I ended up rolling with my group getting dropped on the down hills and then bridging back up on the flats and rollers. I figure once we turned back into the head wind I would have plenty of gears and be gold. At around mile 40 I was spinning along line a mad man and it now jammed up in the 14 also! My thought at that point was back off a little, save some bullets for the head wind, and again I will have plenty of gears. It was roughly about 5 miles after this, I stood up to crest a hill and about 1 second later found myself rolling into the ditch! At first I thought I had dropped my chain so quickly jumped up and went to mount the bike again and as I did, watched the chain roll out of the derailleur and onto the ground!
So 45 IMs and I thought I had, had everything happen that could possibly happen, but no! I knew at this point my day was SHOT! I do have to say I was impressed with how many of the guys behind offered support in terms of making sure I had what I needed! Some even offered up their wheel set! Unfortunately for me, none of us raced with a spare link and chain breaker.
So where to from here? IM Brazil is closed out so that’s a no-go. Not getting the points needed at the Championship race pretty much rules out another trip to Hawaii. So in short, not really sure what the next IM is, but I will keep you posted for sure!
Chris
I must thank all my sponsors for the support they have given me and continue to give me. Zoca Gear produced an amazing one off kit for the race. Epoch Universals CEO flew in to come watch the race. Honestly a huge thank you to all the people who support myself and team BSR
Reynolds
Quintanaroo
Rubys Lube
Ashworth Awards
Blue Seventy
Newton Running
Spy Optic
PHD Nutrition
Cobb Cycling
Normatec