So the story in one of the tri mags says that a media cycle was in the collision with the guy walking his bike at Kona. So why couldnt the media cycle notify the race officials and then they get a repair van out to replace his wheel? Cant they do that?
I saw the trailer for this saturdays NBC coverage on ironmanlive and it appears that will be one of the storys they cover.
I’m not really sure what kind of assistance you could get from the vans, since luckly, I didn’t need any. I’d wager to guess that it might be considered ‘outside assistance’ though for something that major. Either way, it was definitly amazing (and heartbreaking) seeing him walk it in. A true example of IRONMAN! Congrats to him for finishing.
Christian Sadowski is his name, and it was a neat story of him doing what he did to finish…I remember passing him towards the end of the bike thinking “WTF??”
Cannondale presented him with a nice, new bike at the Awards Ceremony for his efforts. Very cool
That guy is a stud, plain and simple. Usually near the end of the bike in that heat and wind I’m at an extreme low point. To keep going like that is incredibly tough. I don’t know if I would have had the guts to do it, but then you never know.
I saw him walking in as I was running along the Queen K. He was carrying the bike and it looked like the entire rear end of the thing was trashed and not just the wheel. The tech support van was there with him but he didn’t seem interested in their assistance (he “only” would have had about 2 miles to go at that time so maybe he just figured he’d made it that far without outside help and was going the rest of the way without any). Sort of reminds me of a buddy of mine during our first misadventure into adventure racing. I carried my bike up to the top of a double black diamond ski run and ran back down to help him with his since he was hobbling along in a semi-bonk … he told me that if I touched his bike he would have to kill me … he teaches martial arts for a living so he literally could kill me 
…since he was determined to finish the race without having to say that someone helped him to the finish.
He actually responded to this forum a month ago so if you do a search you can find out more about him from the horses mouth. Just search the forum for Sadowski. I think he refused the help because he wanted to finish unassisted. The guy is a stud.
Cannondale presented him with a nice, new bike at the Awards Ceremony for his efforts. Very cool
I think it’s great Chris is honored for his determination and true Ironman spirit. I am eager to see the NBC coverage, BUT since it was a media vehicle that hit him, don’t you think they were liable to replace his bike at the very least?
Support Crew
I think it’s great Chris is honored for his determination and true Ironman spirit. I am eager to see the NBC coverage, BUT since it was a media vehicle that hit him, don’t you think they were liable to replace his bike at the very least?
Support Crew
I suppose it’s possible the NBC “convinced” Cannondale to give the bike away…but he also has a bunch of “face time” at the beginning of the show, so maybe that’s NBC’s payback…!
Man, I’m an adventure racer, and i would probably not want race with that guy again. The whole point of the race is team-work, i’ve towed my fair share of people on the bike, and sometimes i’ve had to demand that they accept help, but i’ve been on the other end, totally bonked my teammate with both my and his packs, and walking both my and his bikes up a hill, and i was hurting so bad i couldn’t keep up with him and i was carrying nothing.