Are the dates going to be the same?

9/15 & 9/16

Is anyone doing this? Details are now out about it....

I was already in for the 20/20+60 bundle. Was already nervous about that....not sure about the 20/20+80. Anyone else in?

3 times up Big Savage Mountain is sick. Beyond sick. It's too bad they're not marketing this, because it's definitely way harder than the old 70 and the old 70 was widely regarded as the hardest thing out there.

Really odd there seems to be no buzz about this. I'm signed up and found out about the 80 on accident. Hopefully they push this as the hardest race out there.

Can you describe Big Savage Mountain to me? Length of climb, average elevation and grade?

It'll be the hardest race out there, no ifs ands or buts about it.

Big Savage Mountain from Westernport to the top is 7 miles and 2000 feet gain. It's really two big steps up, though, with a ridiculous steep mile+ through and out of Westernport, followed by 3 or 4 miles of moderate and then another 1-2 miles of very hard climbing to the summit. This has been what the SavageMan 70 has done since 2007 and the SavageMan 60 will still do. 7 mile straight shot from Westernport to the summit.

However, the new course for the 80 takes you about 2/3 of the way up, until you hit the T in the road where you normally would go left to scale the last very hard mile+ to the top. Now the 80 takes a right and plummets all the way back down to the valley. Only to turn around and come back up and to proceed all the way to the top of the mountain.

Once at the top of the mountain the old 70 (and new 60) would descend a 3-4 mile descent down to Savage River Valley. But, the 80 takes a right turn at the summit for a 4 mile 1800' diversion all the way back down to the valley to Barton, to turn around and come all the way back up. This climb from Barton to top of Big Savage is a beast. Essentially all the elevation gain you used to get in 7 miles from Westernport to top of Big Savage (via a 2-step climb) you now get in four miles in one very hard climb. This climb is used in the Garrett County Gran Fondo Diabolical Double and has broken many a rider.

It's gonna be beyond hard. I suspect this is a response to people complaining about the loss of Miller / Maynardier with a body blow that says "oh, you think we went soft on you, take this".

In my mind attempting the SavageMan 80 would be an achievement and not a race. Hopefully word spreads and people sign up to do it, because people will be talking about it afterwards.

....was the whole cancelation of the 70 last fall and the unveiling of the 80 a marketing ploy? if so touche' !!

kissmybuckeye wrote:

....was the whole cancelation of the 70 last fall and the unveiling of the 80 a marketing ploy? if so touche' !!

Ha. No.

I'll give you the rundown and how things ended up where they are. I'm not with VTSMTS, but I do know the decision tree that put us where we are today. I don't know why they haven't announced or promoted the existence of the 80, considering it for sure is the hardest thing that exists in road triathlon in the 6-9 hour competition range.

1. They wanted to split the 20 and 30 onto separate days. This makes sense. Many who do the Sprint or Oly want to do both but cannot when they are held concurrently. Both of those races have growth potential but were hurting each other by being run concurrently.
2. The old 70 course was a beast to support and required essentially all the county and nearby state police resources in order to execute. It was not realistic to support the 70 course and then also add the load of either the 20 or 30 on entirely different roads at the same time.
3. The 70 and/or one of 20 or 30 bike courses needed to be changed to be highly overlapping in order for both to be able to execute concurrently.
4. The 70 needed to continue to include Westernport Wall. That greatly limits route options.
5. The decision made was to dramatically change the 30 course to dive down into Savage River and then climb back out Dry Run. And then turn the 70 into the 60 and also come back Dry Run. This made 23 of the 25 miles of the 30 course be coexistent with the new 60 course, while keeping Westernport Wall in play and also adding new excellent features to the new course (8 mile dragstrip along Savage River and new Dry Run climb)
6. The announcement of the change to the 60 went over like a lead balloon. Despite the fact that very few people come to race the 70 anymore, the fact that VTSMTS dare make a change to it drew ire. So....
7. They added the 80 option by putting adding the 2 new ascents of Big Savage Mountain onto the 60 bike loop and extending the run further up the Fire Tower trail to make it 13.1

This is how it played out. The primary goals have been achieved and remain: the 20 and 30 are on separate days; the 30 and 60/80 greatly overlap on bike course enabling available resources to support both.


And as Walter Cronkite would say, "And that's the way it is"

Do the top dudes use a road bike?

I've never been a top dude but my observation is that the top dudes generally went with an aero bike on the Savageman 70. You'll need the right gearing for the climbs, but there are plenty of places where you'll get gains from being in aero. That's not changed for these new routes. I personally always used a road bike (with a compact) because of the climbing and the descents.

Since my Felt B14 came stock with 50/34 and 11-28 on the rear I'm good to go with the climbs should I sign up for this one. It's on my bucket list maybe this will be the year.

I've ridden it with exactly the same setup so you should be fine. I really love this race. It's pretty, it's hard, the Westernport Wall is like nothing else in American racing. There is reason to worry that the race won't survive much longer, though obviously the new owners are doing all they can to make it viable. Definitely do it if you can.

Very well stated.

That's a just-nutso course. I can think of very few things more demoralizing than getting to the top of Big Savage Mtn. and realizing you've got to go down and do it again. Except for getting to the top again and knowing that you've got to go back down and do it a third time. And Barton is waaaaay harder than M. Ridge.

Yeah, I think it's probably a little over the top.

I'm doing IMLP. Savageman is exactly 8 weeks later. I've all but pulled the trigger on this. one....

It’s a shame that people no longer get to experience looking over their left shoulder and seeing Killer Miller come into view. Not the same without the “don’t look up” signs. Savage mountain 3X? Nope.

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"This ain't no wedding dance, get moving" - SS

Coming down Jennings and looking to the left to see Miller is intimidating but dropping off of Aarons Run and Michael Rd and knowing you have to come back up is just plain demoralizing. Going down the upper sections of Aaron's run and the Beachy Farm section of Michael Rd feels like you are dropping out of an Airplane.

Whew, that climb out of Barton is a leg breaker...but the run will still be where people want to give up :)

Well at least you now get to run much further up the Fire Tower trail. Because, you know, they never put fire towers at the top of mountains or anything.

Just about ready to pull the trigger and signup but am a little concerned with the cutoff times. Being through the mile swim and the 67 mile bike with 8500ft of climbing in less than 5 hours seems like a tight window. Finished the Storming of Thunder Ridge 75 miler with 7k of elevation in just under 5 hours by itself a couple weeks ago. Guess I’d better drop a few pounds hah.
Anyone else?

This came up on facebook. I'm pretty certain the published cutoff times are just copy/paste for their normal HIM distance races, and they will be more lenient with this longer and extremely harder one. That's not to say they won't be pulling folks, but my inclination is to say to sign up if you want to do it, and unless you are really on the tail end of things it's unlikely you'll get yanked.

Do it. I pulled the trigger two years ago and it still is hands down one of my top 5 all time race experiences and I have done plenty of races in the US, Canada, and Europe. No regrets my friend....

Good luck.

The bike map of the new 80 is a poor quality PDF with an image that includes highlighted roads and no turn by turn directions.

I asked months ago and followed up recently for better turn by turn directions but they stil ldo not have them published.

I did my best to create an accurate map. I am off by .4 miles and I suspect it is because I am ending the two out and backs on Big Savage Mountain just a tad early.

Here is the map, just a disclaimer, I made this and it is not official

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/21480056

I took it a step further and broke the course down into manageable segments to help myself plan out a strategy.

Segment Start (miles) | Length (miles) | Net Elevation Change | Description | Road


0.0 | 6.5 | +12' | Flat, occasional rollers | Original route
6.5 | 12.0 | -1,629' | Gradual downhill to Westernport | Original Spring Lick and Savage River Rd
18.5 | 0.5 | +300' | Westernport Wall (and approach) | Original route
19.0 | 5.5 | +1,007' | Big Savage Mountain climb | Original route
24.5 | 3.5 | -1,141' | Big Savage Mountain descent | Aaron Run extension
28.0 | 6.0 | +1,671' | Big Savage Mountain climb | Aaron Run extension
34.0 | 4.8 | -1,478' | Big Savage Mountain descent | Michael Rd extension
38.8 | 5.5 | +1,375' | Big Savage Mountain climb | Michael Rd extension
44.3 | 2.5 | -917' | Big Savage Mountain descent | Original route
46.8 | 8.0 | -280' | Flat | New Savage River Rd
54.8 | 3.1 | +977' | Dry Run Rd climb | New Dry Run Rd
57.9 | 8.7 | +39' | Flat | Glendale Rd


The scary part about this new course is that starting at the Westernport wall there is 5,000 feet of climbing crammed into 20 miles.

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"If it costs you 30 minutes at Maryland so what" -dwreal