Race Report: Snake Creek Gap TT #2
by Aimee Murphy

In the days leading up to the Snake Creek TT #2, I began my usual ritual of checking the weather forecasts obsessively. The temps at the start were to be 20 degrees and the high for the day would reach 36. I don't mind the cold, but the creek crossings during the first half had me worried. I had visions of lying on the trail, my lower extremities frozen, like a giant popsicle wrapped in Lycra.

Snow, sleet and rain had fallen all day on Thursday, but with the race on Saturday, surely the moisture would soak into the ground by then. Wrong.

Jack Younkins, Rob and I arrived at the Trade Center at 8am sharp. Standing in line for registration, the mercury registered at 19 degrees. Lovely. We found Norma bouncing around the parking lot, fully dressed for the race, and in good spirits. I was freezing my hiney off and I was donning a down jacket and long pants. Norma is just tough! We also ran into Anne Ledbetter who was here to test her skill at the 17 miler. Great to see her!

I was afraid to pare down to my cycling clothes. The guys in the parking lot sounded like a bunch of girls in the dressing room at Macy's. ;) What are you going to wear today? How many layers to you have on? Are you wearing booties or toe warmers? What type of base layers do you have? And I thought girls were bad.

We all commiserated about the temperatures and fretted about the condition of the trail, as we'd heard the freeze/thaw cycle had not allowed the moisture to soak in. The bikes were loaded on the trailers and Rob and I piled into a shuttle van with some friends, including David Farabaugh, Norma, Johnny, Jack, and Mark D (Pancake). We also made some new friends – Mike Livingston (recent Michigan transplant), Erik99, and Bob Greico. The shuttle van was warm and I didn't want to get out.

Rob and I lined up at the start, with Norma and Johnny directly ahead of us. They let the riders out 3 at a time, which helps speed things up. The gun went off and it was hours and hours before I could even hope to see Norma again. Rob wished me luck as we started to roll and then hammered out of my sight within minutes. The group behind me contained two very nice pro women from TN. They quickly caught up with me. I hung with them for a little while. We approached the first creek together – they went first, picking a nice shallow line and I followed. Hurray – my feet stayed pretty dry! As the miles progressed I knew they were riding too fast for me. As watched my HR exceed where it should be (per Coach Lynda), so I backed off and tried to settle into a groove. Shortly after that, my rear dérailleur ceased to function. Super Poop. I jumped off the bike a few times to size up the situation, but since I have zero mechanical skills, I just wasted a lot of time mumbling and staring blankly at my drive train.

Fine. I like single speeding. I was in an easy gear. There were plenty of other nuts out there single speeding on purpose. I decided that I'd just press on. And actually, I had three gears. I was stuck in the biggest cog in the back, but a I had full use of my front dérailleur. So I guess I was 3-speeding. About 8 miles in, I found some volunteers – one of whom was a bike mechanic. He and another kind soul worked on my bike and got it to start shifting again. Angels! About a mile after I left the trail angels, the shifter stopped working again. Ugh.

I was starting to lose my mojo. I wanted to get to the halfway point in well under 2 hours. At this rate, I'd never make it. I contemplated quitting at the next opportunity. And then I hit a section of the trail that the forest service recently made some “trail improvements” on. The trail was thick slop. Forget having any traction. Get used to ingesting mud. I could feel the gritty mud in my shorts. Nasty.

I finally rolled into the halfway point. There was mechanic there and he looked at my bike and was able to get it to shift again. I looked at my watch and my total time was 2:06. All was not lost, I wasn't as far behind as I thought. My perspective changed and I decided to press on, knowing that I'd never forgive myself for bailing.

The climb out of the Snake Creek Gap parking lot was awful. Mark D. and I both complained about the mud and how we could barely pedal with all of the junk clogging our drive trains. We pressed on. Not much to tell about the second half aside from the fact the mud in full force. Stopping to remove handfuls of mud from chainstays and drive trains was frequent and my use of colorful language would have disappointed my sweet mother.

On a particularly disgusting forest service road climb, I met up with Norma. She was cramping and was just as frustrated as I was about the conditions. Poor Norma was on her spare hardtail and I could tell she missed her race bike. She still pressed on and rode like a champ. We chatted for a bit, but I was honestly poor company at that point. I felt like a big grouch and I just wanted to finish this mud march. At mile 26, the trail conditions improved greatly and the riding became more enjoyable. The rock gardens didn't bother me as much as they did last time (mainly because they were dry). I found Norma's husband, Johnny, and rode with him for awhile, but there was no keeping up. Toward the end of the race, Bob Greico and I rode together. We kept looking for the infamous cell tower, which signaled the finish line was near. I fumbled my way clumsily through the rock gardens. At one point I had chain suck and Bob helped me fix my bike. Thanks, Bob!!

When saw the cell tower, we finished up the single track with renewed energy and then bombed the downhill back to the finish line. I had a smile from ear to ear. Even though my time was 15 minutes slower than last month, I'm still happy. Now, if we can just have a warm, dry day in March for the finale, I'll be a happy girl.

When I arrived in the parking lot, I found Rob fully dressed. He'd just woken up for a nap. He beat me by over an hour and took second for the Clydesdales. Way to go, Bear. Jack wasn't so lucky. His dérailleur snapped off at mile 26 and he was unable to continue. Anne had a great race and was all smiles. Norma was fantastic – pushing through discomfort to finish very strong.

The pain has already faded and I'm looking forward to March 3rd. Big thanks to NWGASORBA and all of their excellent volunteers who stood out in the freezing cold to help support a bunch of crazy racers. The event was extremely well run. This race series is becoming a favorite of mine. Keep up the awesome work!

Gross

Really gross


Aimee and Anne


Norma finishing strong!


Jack, Rob, and Aimee


Johnny, Norma and Aimee