Race Report: Snake 2020 #1 — Sergeant Red Beard

Snake Creek Gap Time Trial is one of those races where you’re pretty much assured to have terrible weather, and 2020 was no different. Rain saturated the trail for several days leading up to and the morning of the race. Conditions like this are where riding a Singlespeed really pays off. Random branches, mud, grime, and dirt have little effect on the drivetrain where there’s no rear mech to worry about. My goals for the race were pretty straight forward; don’t get hurt, finish the race, and try not to eat the horse poop that littered the first half of the course.

I wasn’t too stressed about race day setup for the bike. Since I run an Ardent/Ardent Race tire setup and didn’t need to swap to beefier tires, all I needed to do was swap to 32x22 gearing. Other than that it was just a matter of airing up the tires and hitting the go pedal.

I pulled up to the starting line early, choosing not to warm up because I was going to be spun out on the fire road anyway. Being the 7th person off allowed me to get ahead of the crowd and not have to fight through people on the climbs. I got passed by several people on gears, as expected. I managed to keep several of them in sight until the first creek crossing.

After blasting through the creek I picked my way through the geared riders up the first big climb. I also got passed by the first singlespeeder of the day, I was no longer in first place. As the gravel trail slowly turned into single track, things got steeper and slicker. I don’t recall ever seeing this many leaves down on Snake before. It was already wet, but with the leaves traction was now a bigger issue then before, making climbing a problem.

Shortly before the gravel descent I got caught by the second singlespeeder, and now new friend, Clint Flowler. We’d spend the rest of the day trading places and talking, taking both our minds off the suck. Up the next climb and down a small descent my GoPro died…guess I should’ve charged the batteries the night before. When Clint and I came down the descent that ended the first 17 miles, we got caught by my old Huntsville Alum Forrest Ege. I stopped slightly longer then both of them at the halfway point to scarf down a waffle and banana, I was now in 4th place.

Up the first climb of the second 17 I tried my best to keep Carey Lowry in sight, but got caught up in some rocks while she floated over them on her full suspension. I passed Forrest shortly after only to get caught by him again when we hit the ridge. Clint had pulled far enough ahead that I was no longer able to see him, so I focused on just doing my own thing for the time being. Bombing down the first big descent and splashing through all the creek crossings I figured I’d gain on him some anyway. Towards the top of the gravel climb I started to reel in Forrest again, but he didn’t stop and I had little chance of catching him in the rocks. Clint was leaving the SAG just when I’d arrived so I needed to make my stop quick. A glass of water, another banana and waffle later I was back on the bike.

It was now time to play in the rocks. Rather then try and set a fast pace though them I decided to just methodically pick my way around, up, and over them hoping to limit mistakes and stay on the bike. As the trail got rockier and steeper I managed to reel Clint in and pass him, but he remained on my tail for the rest of the race. We picked our way down the washed out final dirt descent and prepared ourselves mentally for The Wall. We continued to chat as we pushed our bikes up the climb.

My favorite part of the course was looming and I was getting excited because I’d been saving my legs all day for The Rock Garden. I was riding pretty well through it, gapping Clint in some areas with him catching me in others. We got bogged down by a coupe of riders and pushed passed them towards the radio tower. We rolled down the final gravel and road descent towards the finish line. Down the road I couldn’t hold Clint’s wheel, limited by my knobbier tires I suspect as neither of us was pedaling.

Crossing the finish line I high fived a yelling Craig Lawson, who had previously tried to tempt with with whiskey mid race, then proceeded to the smiling face of my girlfriend. Despite being covered in several layers of mud and muck, she graciously gave me a congratulatory kiss. We then head off for her car because, angel that she is, she’d brought beer and a change of clothes for me.

Overall Snake 2020 was good to me. I finished 4th out of 6 in Singlespeed with a time of 4:28:24; 8 minutes slower and in much worse conditions then my last attempt in 2015. It was also my cleanest run of Snake yet. The plan was to do Snake in February as well, but Jordan and I are teaming up for the Chattanooga Brew Ruck Challenge that day. I suspect drinking beer and rucking around Chatt with my girlfriend will be much more fun then doing Snake a second time. Stay tuned as the next race is The Gobbler in Conyers, GA on January 18th.