You can now register for the 2010 Snake at:

http://www.active.com/page/Event_Detail ... a5122b7752

this is going to be my first year doing this. i will be happy as long as i finish.

Anybody can train for the Snake Creek Gap,

I'm just gonna show up and Do It!



(after I register of course)

Nice, looking forward to the snake. I wish the pre-ride wasn't the day before the last cx race though.

I'm going to use the first one to train for the other two...

So how 'bad' is this ride? I've been riding pretty strong but I am a slooooow climber. I want to try the pre-ride before I register for the series, tho. Any tips aside from "I'd rather slam my junk in a car door multiple times than ride Snake Creek TT" would be helpful.

Any other ladies riding this?

"Bad" is subjective. I've ridden the 34 miler 5 times now and I have had some intensely deep reflection into my self worth on every ride.

My wife is giving it a go after running support for the past 2 years. She is going to preride the 17 and decide after that. She'll be rocking her SS and I don't think she'll have any problems.

Not a lady however the snake is not to be missed!
The first 17 is awesome flowing/climby mountain biking. The last seventeen is unreal...climby, very rocky and plenty of opps. to seriously bust your arss.

My strategy was to climb super slow and save plenty for the last 5 miles.
My strategy for the last five miles was to dismount early, power walk to the top and only remount bike when I could really ride safely for some time.

I went fastest by walking more, primarily because I was wasting lots of time stalling on the climbs and trying to get back going. I had some guys fly past me on some super tech climbs,probably going 8-10 mph

The snake isn't for beginners but if you have lots of 4 hour rides in your pain bank and know how to pace and ride within your limits...its awesome.

The first Snake I did in 2008 gave me a new appreciation for pain and suffering. I honestly had never cramped like that before in all my life. But I went back and raced another and was smiling ear to ear when I crossed the finish line each time. I wasn't able to make any of the races for 2009 so I am really itching to head back this coming year.

Just put in some long rides, and work on your climbing and you will be fine. It's not impossible. If I can do it, anybody can! The last 5 miles though will definitely make you question yourself and in the end, make you a stronger rider.

Brooks

The SCG website is nearly impossible to understand, so I'll ask here:
I see that there is a price increase, but is there morning-of registration? And do they have a cap on number of racers?
It's a great event, and I have unfinished business there after 2009, but it looks like I might have conflicts with other races on a couple of the dates.

I think you can do the 34. My advice though would be to pre-ride the 17 and go from there.



More from Jan last year:
http://milliron.org/photo/scg09-1/

Thanks Millhouse et. al. Is that a picture of Snake? Daaaaaymn.

I think I'll do the 17 mile pre-ride. I have lots of long rides under my belt but not many of those had as much climbing and rocks. Bring it!

How does the Snake 34 compare to the SWANK 65?

Awesome.

I did my first SGTT last year. I had just under a year of experience of "serious" mountain biking under my belt. (I had probably been on about 5 different trails in my life). I only had a single speed 29er and had just gotten a suspension fork for it. The first time I went up in January it was cold, wet and pretty miserable. It felt like riding through a dream in that thick fog and I was so spun and tired by the end I thought I'd never do it again. The 2nd time was in March and I tried a different strategy. Rather than try and muscle through the ridiculous climbs on a Single Speed, get off, walk/jog(when possible) and recover a bit. I knocked 30 minutes off my own time.

This course certainly isn't for the faint of heart, but if you are ok with riding a long time (3-hours for 17 miles in my case :-p) then I'd say give it a shot. I didn't do it to 'race.' I wanted to see what I was capable of. I plan on doing the 34 this year and I can't wait.