Mountain bikers love 'Snake trifecta'

Trail runner. Mountain biker. Adventure racer. Pretty much any kind of weather.

Chattanooga's Jim Farmer loves competitive challenges, and one of his favorites every year kicks off Saturday in Dalton.

It's the annual Snake Gap Time Trials mountain bike competition conducted by the Northwest Georgia chapter of the Southern Off-Road Bicycle Association. Farmer used to oversee the Greenway Challenge Adventure Race in Hixson, so he appreciates a well-organized event and says the "Snake Trifecta" is hard to beat.

"It's incredibly, incredibly well put on," Farmer said. "That's why I'll always take part. It has good food and good people, and they do a great job of shuttling you out to the two starting points. People come from all over the country to it."

The entry numbers now push 400.

"It's blossomed into an amazing race," said Lee Simril, who with his wife Brenda -- North Chattanooga residents like Farmer -- have become regulars. "It started off, it seemed to me, as just a strange sort of offseason training race, and it may still be that, but it doesn't look that way when you get there. The riders are very skilled and it's a big operation, very well organized.

"They do a fantastic job."

The 34-mile bikers finish on the course the 17-milers use -- almost entirely single-track trails in the Pinhoti system but ending at the Northwest Georgia Trade and Convention Center in Dalton.

"The key word is 'rocky,'" Lee Simril said. "It's one of the rockiest courses you'll find."

The time trials Saturday and on Feb. 4 and March 3 use the same six-mountain layout, but weather conditions can make it so much different.

"It can be sunny and 60 in January and cold and raining in March, or the other way around, or you can have snow and ice," Farmer said. "It's supposed to warm up some by Saturday, so this week is looking pretty good."

He has biked the full 34-mile option a few times but has settled into the 17-miler and won his 40-50 age group the last couple of years. He had the best total time for the three trials last year by nearly 19 minutes -- 5 hours, 51 minutes and 45 seconds -- but the overall prize goes to the best individual time for one race and his 1:54:12 in March fell just short to an under-30 rider.

"I won't be turning a 1:54 this weekend, that's for sure," he said at midweek, "but I'm doing OK for coming out of the holidays."

Brenda Simril was the women's 34-mile trifecta winner in 2011 with an 11:58:25 total and the two best single-race times for women doing all three.

"She's phenomenal," Farmer said.

Ultra-phenomenal would describe Thomas Turner of Canton, Ga., whose combined time for the three 34-mile races last year was 8:49:50.

"That guy's an animal," Farmer said. "He's a little, stocky guy, usually fully bearded. He looks like he should be chopping wood instead of killing on a mountain bike."

Riders still can sign up on race day at the trade center, beginning at 7 a.m. There are 14 categories that cost $110 plus a more expensive "money class" for top 34-mile entrants. The fee is good for the series, whether someone competes in one, two or all three trials.