At
Ironman Wisconsin I failed to mention in my race report that I dropped my chain. It was on an uphill and one of those moments where I briefly felt like Andy Schleck in Le Tour - pedaling, shifting, spinning but going nowhere with my chain off the front chain ring. D'oh!! Although sadly after I got off my bike and put the chain back on, nobody was there to give me a push and cheer me on again.
I have since learned about the
K-Edge Chain Catcher and thankfully will not
drop my chain again. Last weekend I installed this on my bike:
Super simple little device that took me literally less than 5 minutes to install. For those of you worried about weight - it weighs 10 grams. Basically nothing. And it just won't allow your chain to fall off if you shift into your small ring on the fly.
Oh - and it gets better - they come in fun colors! I'm pretty sure I will need to get a green one to match my race kit.
A couple other things I like about the company that sells these:
- They are all made by hand in the USA. Seriously - do you have many components on your bike that were made on US soil? Doubtful.
- The company is run by Kristin Armstrong's husband. For those of you who failed to watch cycling in the Olympics - Kristin won a gold medal. Needless to say, the product is made by someone who knows bikes.
I rode a hilly route this past weekend and I'm pretty sure my chain catcher already did its job. One less thing to worry about when I'm racing this weekend. You can find more info on the
K-Edge Chain Catcher here.
