# Savage Century



## nate

Anyone doing the Savage Century in October?

I'm thinking of doing it but doubt I would get a lot of training done in the next couple weeks. I will mostly be commuting.

I think I could make it through the full century but don't have a lot of context for how I would fare on such a long hilly ride. The hilliest regular ride I do is about 45 miles with a little more than 2000 feet of climbing, but I don't have a GPS on my bike so I can't really say much about average grade and length of the hills.

Looking at the hills listed on the Savage site, I normally wouldn't worry much. However, given the amount of rollers and other hills to wear me down over the century, I imagine the notable hills will really cause some suffering.


----------



## Becky

Toying with the idea... I doubt that I would do the full century. I could finish it, but it wouldn't be fun- I just haven't ridden enough this year.


----------



## panchohughes

@nate I have done the Savage for the last 2 years and had planned on riding again this year. However my this year I will be out of town. My advice to you would be to let the weather be your guide. If the weather is nice, then pace yourself and do the full century. If there is wind or rain, then cut it short and do one of the shorter loop options. Also, do you have a compact double ? That would be advisable. Also if you have a cassette with 27 or even 28 teeth that is even better! I rode '09 and '10 without a compact AND with a 11-25 cassette. Needless to say I had to walk my bike up the steepest hill. Good luck to you. It's really not a bad ride if you think about one hill at a time.


----------



## nate

panchohughes said:


> @nate I have done the Savage for the last 2 years and had planned on riding again this year. However my this year I will be out of town. My advice to you would be to let the weather be your guide. If the weather is nice, then pace yourself and do the full century. If there is wind or rain, then cut it short and do one of the shorter loop options. Also, do you have a compact double ? That would be advisable. Also if you have a cassette with 27 or even 28 teeth that is even better! I rode '09 and '10 without a compact AND with a 11-25 cassette. Needless to say I had to walk my bike up the steepest hill. Good luck to you. It's really not a bad ride if you think about one hill at a time.


No compact, but I have 39/53 up front with a SRAM 12-26 on the back, so I am at 40 gear inches for my lowest gear.


----------



## nightfend

nate said:


> No compact, but I have 39/53 up front with a SRAM 12-26 on the back, so I am at 40 gear inches for my lowest gear.


If you are a racer, then that will be enough gearing for the hills. It is a 10,000 feet of climbing. So not an easy course.


----------



## BlueWheels

I'll be there. I think I am doing the metric because a few of my friends are worried that they won't be able to handle the full century, but if they drop out, I'll probably switch it up.


----------



## nate

nightfend said:


> If you are a racer, then that will be enough gearing for the hills. It is a 10,000 feet of climbing. So not an easy course.


I certainly do group rides every once in a while but don't race.

I did the century with 40 gear inches as my lowest, but it clearly would have gone better and probably faster with lower gearing. I don't know that I'd do it again with the same gearing. I was down to walking speed, 3mph or even a tiny bit below, on a couple of the steepest sections for short periods.

Still, I did it.


----------



## nightfend

Duck Hill was certainly steep! It was the hill just before the mile 60 rest stop. It was steep enough that I was popping wheelies going up it. Probably 25+% grade.

I rode the century with a 39x27 as my easiest gearing, and it was barely adequate and I'm a decent climber. So I can imagine most people would want a compact for this century.


----------



## BlueWheels

nightfend said:


> Duck Hill was certainly steep! It was the hill just before the mile 60 rest stop. It was steep enough that I was popping wheelies going up it. Probably 25+% grade.
> 
> I rode the century with a 39x27 as my easiest gearing, and it was barely adequate and I'm a decent climber. So I can imagine most people would want a compact for this century.


How did you feel about the course? I was there to ride it, but the guy I was riding with got some pretty serious cramps in his calves so I had to cut my ride short and only do the 40. I kept the course sheet, though, and want to get up there sometime in the next 2-3 weeks to give the entire course a try. I know that doesn't count as doing the century, but I really enjoyed the 40 I did and am curious about riding the rest of it.


----------



## nate

BlueWheels said:


> How did you feel about the course? I was there to ride it, but the guy I was riding with got some pretty serious cramps in his calves so I had to cut my ride short and only do the 40. I kept the course sheet, though, and want to get up there sometime in the next 2-3 weeks to give the entire course a try. I know that doesn't count as doing the century, but I really enjoyed the 40 I did and am curious about riding the rest of it.


The course is beautiful, but I got the impression there are some very long stretches with no stores, making it hard to refill water or food. See this post in my Savage Century report.

There will also be even more leaves and sticks on the ground over the next couple weeks, making the descents in particular a little more hairy. You really have to watch for debris, particularly if it's been wet, since it's easy to get 40+mph on some of the descents. The leaves were slick enough that I had my rear wheel spin once or twice on leaves during steep climbs.


----------



## nightfend

Yeah, the course was great, though the leaves hid a few of the markers for me. I ended up doing 109 miles, instead of 103.


----------



## JimF22003

This was the first time I've done this ride. Kind of a last-minute decision:

2011 Savage Century by jimf22003 at Garmin Connect - Details

Very good ride. It was windy as heck, but it made for a nice tail-wind on the way back.

Yes, I walked about 50 feet of Duck Hill...


----------



## nightfend

Yeah, Duck Hill was tricky. I probably would have fell over had I tried to do that thing sitting down as my wheel kept popping off the ground. But once I stood up my center of balance was better. Thankfully it was short.

I tell you one thing, I was VERY surprised when I realized I had to make that right turn and go up that road.


----------

