Dirt bike crash sends Tennessee man toppling over timber rattlesnake. ‘I levitated’

A 5-mile dirt bike ride turned instantly terrifying for a Tennessee man when he was thrown off his bike — directly at a large timber rattlesnake.

Troy Roberts posted video on the East TN DirtBike Riders Facebook page, showing his wheels were still spinning when the bike landed inches from the coiled snake.

It happened Saturday, May 7, in the Coppinger Cove area of Marion County, and Roberts describes the airborne moment like it played out in slow motion.

“I was rolling along at trail speed when I hit a small log covered by leaves and the bike started sliding,” Roberts told McClatchy News.

“As I looked down, I could see the very bright and familiar pattern of the timber rattlesnake — in the direction I was falling. I was gonna land with my right side directly on top of the snake. Luckily, I had enough speed to just get past him ... by about one foot. I’m pretty sure I levitated over my handlebars.”

Roberts initially feared he had been bitten. Once he realized that didn’t happened, it dawned on him that he wasn’t sure where the snake ended up.

The video shows Roberts starting to look, while his two wary biking companions (Zack Rosson and Mike Broetzmann) stood at a safe distance.

He eventually finds the nearly 5-foot snake next to his front wheel, and used a long stick to scoot it from the bike. It was not in a hurry, however.

“You just go on, little buddy, we won’t mess with you,” Roberts is heard telling the snake. “Didn’t mean to disturb your nap.”

Roberts, who escaped injury, was riding a 300 KTM XC-W on a trail northeast of Chattanooga. Had he been bitten, the trio were more than 30 minutes from cell phone service, he said.

“I’ve seen many venomous snakes out in the trails. I’ve never fell on one,” Roberts said.

Commenters on Roberts’ video have lauded him for not harming the snake, while also pointing out it “could have been a nightmare situation.”

“I would throw a match on my bike!” Brady Meador wrote on Facebook.

“I’d be looking everywhere on that trail out of paranoia!” Shawn Hash posted.

“Makes you wonder how many you don’t see,” Michael Bell said.

Timber rattlesnakes are the “largest and the most dangerous” of Tennessee’s four venomous snake species, The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency reports. They grow to about 5 feet, which means Roberts was dealing with an adult.

“Whether coiled or stretched out, they can quickly and accurately strike one-third or more of their body length from any position,” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports.

This story was originally published May 12, 2022 at 9:09 AM with the headline "Dirt bike crash sends Tennessee man toppling over timber rattlesnake. ‘I levitated’."