Snake Creek Gap TT Race Report

 I had been hem-hawing the past two weeks over whether to race or not. Two weeks out, the weather forecast was horrible (cold and wet), so I was out.  One week out, it was looking really good (dry, sunny, and warm), so I was back in.  Then over the last few days before the race, the bottom was falling out, but not enough to take me out; just enough to make me think I could get a sub 4 hour time, but that I was going to be miserably cold doing it.  My Reynaud's has been acting up quite a bit this winter, and I was currently dealing with two toes that were painful and festering from a lack of blood flow that lasted a little bit too long during a cold hike in January.

David Jolin and Melissa Cooper arrived at my house Friday night and we hashed out our plans, mainly clothing choices, that changed 4 or 5 times through the course of the conversation.  My internal alarm clock had me up at 4:10 am, 5 minutes before my phone alarm went off.  Score!  As I absolutely hate the alarm clock jolting me awake.  We ate our breakfast on the drive down to the Snake Pit.  Melissa and David rode the shuttle, but as I was delivering a SS cog to Joe Urbanowicz, his father offered me a front row seat in his toasty truck.  Score #2!  I was able to stay warm right up until the race started at 8 am.  

As I hit the wood line for one last time to make race weight and butter up the chamois, I was just not feeling the racing mojo with today's 22 degree start.  Even with chemical warmers in my shoes and gloves, my extremities were so cold. I told myself to HTFU.

I noticed Melissa riding around and warming up, or so I thought. As I made my way back to the truck to grab my bike and head to the start line, she came up with a face of utter frustration.  Her dropper post was misbehaving and was not staying in the up position.  She had not touched the actuator lever, but when she would sit on the saddle, it just sank, all the way down.  That was weird. I know that droppers don't like 22 degree weather, but for the brands I have owned, you just don't mess with the lever and essentially you just have a really heavy rigid post.

Melissa had driven the day before all the way from Durham, NC, an 8 hour drive. You see, this was her first year racing The Snake, and she was eager to earn the buckle.  I could see it in her eyes; she was crushed!  And I could just not let that happen.  I made a quick and easy decision.  She was going to ride Blaze, my bike.  We quickly swapped pedals, put her number plate on the bike, made a saddle adjustment, and she was off to earn her buckle.

We were both all smiles.

It wasn't that hard of a decision for me.  I was just not feeling it today, and I could not let my good friend have a miserable weekend, but I could let her suffer through the cold and difficulty of the course. Score #3!  My only regret was slathering my chamois with Chamois Butt'r, because now I would have a cold, clammy chamois for the next 3-4 hours as I hung with Joe's Dad while he supported him.  Eh, a small price to pay.

Riding it like she stole it!

I saw Melissa come through the Snake Creek Gap parking lot, smiling all the way.  That was enough for me to know I had made the right decision.  I even got to see my favorite racer of the series, 10 year old Jameson Keith.  He slayed his January time (21 minutes faster) and finished under 3 hours.  He was on fire and looked great coming through the finish line.  I am sure he loved tucking in behind his Dad on the pavement descent, doing 20+ mph!

Melissa got her buckle, Joe had THE fastest 34 mile time overall, and David won his division in the 50 mile.  All in all, the day was an absolute success, with many Rescue Racing team mates on the podium.  At the finish, I did have a slight twinge of envy watching the racers crush their January times as the course was fast today. But, that quickly faded.  My January time was good enough to win my division and I will be back next year to give that sub-4 another go.  

AND, having not raced today allows me to be a Zwimp tomorrow 😄

Snake Creek Gap TT 50 Mile Race Report

You have to fight for every mile on The Snake!

Having an impromptu pit stop enroute to the start line was a foreboding sign but was quickly dismissed as the "race day jitters." Besides, I was pre occupied with what to wear, going over what seemed like 3000 possibilities.

It was dark when I arrived at the Dry Creek parking lot.  Stepping out into a pile of horseshit should have been another sign of a potentially "shitty" day.  I swear ... one day ... I am going to poo just outside the door of a horseman's vehicle!  Horse feces is no different than human and people should respect each other enough to use a pooper scooper.  It ... is ... not ... that ... difficult ... to ... clean ... up ... the ... mess ... that ... your ... animals ... create.  Just pure laziness and disrespect in my book!

Another attack 20 minutes prior to the start and I became a little nervous about my GI distress.  You see, I had recently finished taking a round of antibiotics for mastoiditis and had been having some issues.  Surely, between the "making race weight" back at home and these two additonal breaks, I had no more offerings to the "poop" Gods.

Oh well, back to race kit decisions. With subfreezing temps and a brisk wind, I had the bottom half figured out, but not the top half. Fortunately I made the right decision and was just a tad chilly at the start, despite the running in place for 10 minutes while awaiting the 8am start.

The crowd seemed thinner than January's edition and I was closer to the front.  Starting off with a single track climb, my legs felt fresh.  I must give Virginia Lee of  "Hands On Healing Southside" (soon to be Revive) a huge shout out for her massage on Thursday that revived my dead legs.  Ladies, I highly recommend her services!

The 18 mile prologue went by quickly and easily.  Trail conditions were perfect!  The muddy spots of last month were gone.  After 30 minutes, my fingers thawed out and all body parts were toasty.  The legs were happy and my RPE was where it should be.  Remembering how I felt last month, I was assured after this section that I would easily better my time.

Heading up the fire road to the first single track section, the gravels seemed to have settled and the climb was more pleasant than last month.  I was in my own little bubble of happiness entering the single track. I was riding my new bike, the Niner RKT 9 RDO, and the rear end traction was a noticeable improvement over my Niner Jet 9 RDO.  Must be the shorter chainstays.

The descents were a little tricky as the cold wind made my eyes water to the point of blurriness.  At times I had to rely on trail memory to see me safely down.  On the final climb before heading to the Snake Creek Gap parking lot, my guts began to churn.  I hopped off the bike and immediately fertilized a tree.  Thank God I had decided to go with tights as opposed to bibs!  Finishing the climb, Kaysee Armstrong came up and made a pass on me.  Having just come off a 2nd place finish at Trans Andes, she still looked strong.  Using this race as a recovery ride, no doubt!

I followed her down to the SAG stop.  Guts still rolling, I forced myself to chug a Red Bull.  While shedding my Buff and head gear, Laureen rolled on through without stopping.  Kaysee was about to throw a tantrum in the pits until she found the box of doughnuts.  While a mechanic got her bike back to working order (Kaysee had hastily built it up the night prior and was having some issues), she found her happy place again.

Meanwhile I took off, shouting out to her that I was her "rabbit."  That first climb out of the parking lot was brutal ... and went on forever.  It felt like they added an extra half mile to it.  I tried to bridge the gap back up to Laureen ... until I had to make another gift to the forest. Ugh!  How could one so little have so much?!?  At this point, I began to realize that my race had gone from sparkly to one of survival.  Rather than beat myself up, I was determined to enjoy, as much as possible, the last 14 miles.

Thankfully, I only had to make one more short pit stop,  I made a game out of the last miles, bound and determined to not let Kaysee catch me on the long descent to the mutiple creek crossings.  I let it loose, following a single speeder's line, and had fun raging it!  Kaysee didn't catch me until the final fire road climb up to the last bit of gnar.  My energy stores were on "E" and I just settled into recovering on the climb so that I could have some fun on the rocks.  Not being totally gassed when riding the last 7 miles makes it so much more fun.  I found new lines as I made my way around some 34 milers.  As much as I enjoyed the last few miles, I was still extremely happy to see the towers telling me the end was near.

I rolled through the finish in 4:45 and some change.  Fortunately my January time was good enough for me to finish third.

In awesome company ... Jamie took 1st and Kaysee 2nd

I was skeptical of the change up for this year's Snake.  Although I would prefer to have just a 34/17 mile event as those trails are the "heart" of the Snake, I do understand how difficult it is to have a 3 event series in a point to point race and the enormous amount of volunteer hours it takes to run something of this magnitude.  We racers are very fortunate to have this longstanding event, as alot of good races have not been able to withstand the test of time.  A big double fist pump to all of the volunteers!