Need advice on snakes (kind of long)

[griffsmom]

I am getting back into mountain biking after a 5-year layoff and I currently am blessed to have a job that allows me to hit a local mtb trail during my lunch hour two or three times a week. Let me set the stage for the story that follows by saying that I ABSOLUTLEY, POSITIVELY HATE, NO STRIKE THAT, DESPISE SNAKES. They scare me to death.
 
Last week, on my Tuesday ride, I had a rattlesnake slither across my path about 5 feet ahead of me. I was heading downhill and going about 25 mph, so it happened so quickly I could only scream like a little girl and ride past it (which actually was a good thing), but it totally freaked me out for the rest of the ride. I rode again on Friday and was anxious and panicked the entire ride. Every stick was a snake in cognito. If the line of the trail went too close to the side by the bushes, I stayed in the middle even though it meant that I had to really struggle against the terrain on my bike. The fear I felt was sucking all my energy. But I wasn't wrong to be so fearful: I rode up a short but steep singletrack section and as I crested the top of the hill, I came face-to-face with what I think was a California Mountain King snake (black and white bands) sunning itself. I stopped about 15 feet from it and waited, unmoving, about three minutes until it decided to slide back into the bush. Of course, my fear totally took over and I was a basket case for the rest of the ride. Plus I've been obsessing about coming across any more snakes on my lunchtime ride--so much so that I rode my road bike home from work yesterday rather than hit the trail because I couldnt' stand the thought of seeing another snake.
 
So all that to ask: does anyone have any words of wisdom or comfort to help me over my fear of snakes, or as wavery would say, my ophidiphobia? Not riding isn't an option--I need to lose a significant amount of weight and there is no other way for me to get the exercise I desperately need. Plus, I love mountain biking as much as I hate snakes.
 
So any ideas? I hope the "doctor" is in! :eyecrazy:

[Surfcal]

Hi Griffsmom:
 
 First of all, I love mountain biking and I don't like snakes as much as you don't like them.
 
 Now I'm rethinking mountain biking.  I've only come across one snake in all the time I've mountain biked and I was okay with that until now.
 
 On the lighter side, I have a Specialized Enduro, but it doesn't have the anti-snake option.  Wish I had that installed.  It's a good thing I have a road bike too.  Now I'm just going to stick to the pavement, but those snakes called cars with inconsiderate drivers are kind of brutal too.
 
 Surfcal

[griffsmom]

I have a Schwinn Homegrown FS, that is so cool beans, but unfortunately, it didn't even have an anti-snake option, or else I would have bought it--cost be dam*ed! I've met mule deer, bobcats, skunks, tarantulas, frogs, California quail, roadrunners, rabbits, squirrels and lizards during my many mountain biking rides; I even came up on a mountain lion about 100 yards ahead of me once (*very* quietly turned around and rode like the wind back to my car that day), but none of that wildlife made me squeamy like snakes do.
 
Sorry if I put you off mountain biking, Ray--that certainly wasn't my intent. And you're right about the four-wheeled snakes--they're probably more dangerous than my two new trail friends. Thankfully, my ride home yesterday was uneventful, but I was once again riding on hyper-alert--this time to avoid a different kind of encounter with "wildlife."

[Surfcal]

Well, the best point of view I can give at this point is this.  You can't be obstruction fixated.  If you look at a rock, you WILL hit the rock.  You have to look at where you want to go to get around the obstruction.


You can avoid an obstruction by doing this and I stress this very strongly.  Don't fixate on the obstruction.

Of course, this advice doesn't work on snakes.

[griffsmom]

:J you crack me up!

[dthurk]

Well, lets approach this from the snake's perspective:

I ABSOLUTLEY, POSITIVELY HATE, NO STRIKE THAT, DESPISE PEOPLE. They scare me to death.  

If you make enough noise and don't come up on them too fast, they'll probably be gone before you get there.  At 25 mph, you'll probably surprise them.  

There have to be some quiet side roads in CA.  It can't all be LA parkways out there (we call them expressways around here).  Road biking can get you the same exercise without the wildlife, in spite of trading legs for wheels.  I know, I know...it's not the same.

[wavery]

Two things that I can think of, may help......a little......very little....but..a little. :p

King Snakes are not poisonous. Rattle Snakes cannot strike unless they are coiled. Even then they tend to be very shy about striking unless they are taunted, so don't stop and scream at them :p .

My X-wife used to freak-out at snakes when we road the San Gabriel Valley bike trail. We ran across lots of rattlers. She got over it, over time. As stated above, she learned to ignore them.

I won't tell you why she is my X-wife .....................that's not funny :mad: .....somebody slap me. :eyecrazy:



BTW.......(all kidding aside) if you are serious about getting a handle on this phobia, hypnotists have a good track record on helping people with that kinda stuff.

[oldmoose]

Funny Wavery, your comment about your X. I led Boy Scouts on hikes in the local mountains and we saw all kinds of snakes. Only once did one rattle and he was a ways away. They crossed in front of us and we saw them near the trail. We left them alone and they didn't bother us.
 
Lori, you'll be past them before they can figure out what to do. If you hit one while riding, look at it as an appetizer that night.-yeah right.
 
Moose

[OC Campers]

Hang in there girlfriend. I am having a hard time imagining you being afraid of anything. You can over come this. You can stand in a court room and work wonders, you can sew till your fingers want to fall off, you can setup a popup by yourself including backing it in (this is a huge feat considering what you bring along with you :yikes: ), you can meet the President of the United States and you are an advocate for adoption. Girl, if I was that snake I would run
and run FAST!!! You are a strong woman!! You can over come this!!
 
Jacqui (who also hates snakes):yikes:

[wavery]

HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!

I was gonna do one of those lawyer joke things.............on 2nd thought.....never mind. :J

[griffsmom]

Thanks for the words of encouragement, everyone.  Jacqui--you crack me up (and make me look pretty good on paper!)  I'll be riding at lunch today, so I'll let you know how it goes.  

Rattle Snakes cannot strike unless they are coiled.

Actually, I used to believe that was true too, but in my "knowledge is power" efforts to try and learn more about snakes so that I might be less afraid of them, all the Web sites I've seen say this is a misnomer.  When stretched out, a snake can strike up to 50-60% of its length, so a 3' snake can still strike up to 1.5 to 2 feet, even if uncoiled.  Not particularly comforting knowledge, but at least now I know. Ugh, I don't feel empowered.
 
I will definitely take your advice about not be stopping at screaming at them, though. Not that they could hear me anyway--snakes don't have ears.

[zamboni]

I was gonna do one of those lawyer joke things

You mean like the one "Why don't snakes ever bite lawyers?"



(sorry, I have no advice on how to handle snake fear... they don't bother me that much.  I had a friend in college who had an 8-foot boa we liked to play with... and, I've had to hurl them out of our yard several times as we back up against wetlands.  Once, I missed one in the grass... but my Toro mower found it.  Blech).

[griffsmom]

You mean like the one "Why don't snakes ever bite lawyers?"

Professional courtesy.
 
...Or...
 
What's the difference between a snake lying in the road having been hit by a car and a lawyer lying in the road having been hit by a car?
 
 
There are skid marks in front of the snake.
 
I got a million of 'em...

[wavery]

When I was a kid.....(a longggggggggg time ago).....my uncle had a ranch in (what is now) Canyon Country. Back then, it was known as "dessert" :p .

The State had a 25 cent bounty on Rattle Snakes back then. My brother and I used to go out, catch them, cut their rattlers off (which killed them) and take them into the ranger for the bounty. Each time that we went out there, we would get 10 - 20 of them. That bought a lot of candy in those days :p .

Anyway, we just cut the branch off of a tree and trimmed it so that it had a "Y" in the end. When we spotted a Rattler that wasn't coiled, we'd pin his head down and do our deed. My uncle told us not to mess with them if they were coiled. Never had a problem with them (Disclaimer here......I DO NOT recommend this activity to anyone). We had them strike at us while not coiled (especially when we tauned them :p ) but they couldn't strike more than a foot or two and our stick was about 6' feet long. They NEVER once struck at us unless they were intimidated, even then, it took a lot to get them to strike. They don't go hunting for you.

When we were bike riding in the San Gabriel River wash, bike trails, I used to run over them with my bike all the time. However, I don't recommend it and I did take my feet off of the peddles and lift them up.

[OC Campers]

Maybe carry a snake bite kit in your bike just in case.

Jacqui