2021
To register for the 2021 Grand Depart, send a Letter of Intent to stating 1) your understanding that the event is completely self-supported and 2) your intended mileage option (north, south, or full 8).
What is the Super 8 Grand Depart?
Check out the Jan 1, 2021 announcement on the home page.
What is the Self-Supported Standard?
The self-supported standard is a social contract for bikepackers participating in a grand depart (GD) or individual time trial (ITT). It asserts that the rider is attempting to complete a chosen route under their own power in a manner that is generally accessible to any amateur rider. Bikepackers who complete the VT Super 8 under a self-supported standard can have their times listed in the results below.
We're not trying to tell you how to do bikepacking. Anyone can ride the Super 8 on their own terms outside of the GD or an ITT, self-supported or not, and have an incredible ride. The self-supported standard is purely voluntary and is upheld by an honor system. It increases accessibility to bikepacking by adding transparency. Posting times with a consistent, accessible standard helps both new and experienced riders set expectations. It's a way of saying: this is what I did, and this is how I did it. And yes, for those who want to race, it's a way to compare times.
Times of riders who ride the GD but deviate from the self-supported standard are marked with an (*) as well as an explanation of the deviation. The purpose of posting (*) or "unofficial" times is to provide an abundance of information about the routes. A rider marked "SCR" or scratched means for some reason, they had to stop their ride.
With all those caveats aside, below is an attempt to outline of the self-supported standard for the Vermont Super 8. Ultimately, the decision of whether a time is marked as unofficial will fall to the discretion of the event director.
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Complete the entire chosen route. If you deviate from the course, return to where you deviated and keep going.
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The major exception here is for closed roads or run-ins with landowners. You will never be scratched for re-routing at the behest of a road crew or a landowner. If this happens, please make a good faith effort to find the best re-route and return to the route as soon as you can.
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If you realize you've missed a turn, you should try to return to the point you left the course and find the turn. Skipping or bypassing a significant amount of the course may result in a (*) at the event director's discretion.
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You're welcome to leave the course knowingly for resupply or other self-supported amenities, but please return to the course where you left it.
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Complete the route under your own power.
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No drafting.
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Unplanned support from fellow riders is okay.
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Ebikes? If you seriously want to take on the Super 8 with an ebike, please reach out. Be aware that ebikes are prohibited on some trail sections of the Super 8.
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You may engage in commercial services so long as they are generally available to all riders.
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General stores, bike shops, even hotels are all fair game. If you get there when the store is open and other riders get there when it’s closed, that’s fine and all part of the “fun.”
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Calling a mobile repair service to help you out with a mechanical is fine. Paying them in advance to meet you periodically along the route is not fine.
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Hiring/scheduling with a private organization or using sponsored resources for "commercial" support during your ride, although technically available to anyone with enough money, is not in the spirit of self-supported bikepacking.
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You may not camp in your friend's yard 😔.
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The Super 8 is big, and Vermont is small, so many of our beloved local riders face the curse of pedaling by their house or a friend's house. While it makes all kinds of sense to camp in the yard of someone you know and definitely seems more like bikepacking than, for example, staying in a hotel, unfortunately this would violate the self-supported standard as we know it today. So while this is encouraged for bikepacking generally, unfortunately it would result in a (*) in the results for riders otherwise riding self-supported.
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The exception here is: if said friend opens their property to camping for all bikepackers attempting to ride self-supported, then you as well would be able to camp there. We'd ask the host to share a short blurb about their place, and if desired we can protect the host's location by dropping the camping waypoint at the nearest intersection and then requiring additional information to find the exact camping spot. This additional information can reach the riders ahead of time through direct rider-host communication, or through an email from the event director to the riders of a grand depart. If you or a friend wants to join the host network on the Super 8 or for bikepacking in general, then have them please reach out!
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No support crews, pacers, or caches. However, you may resupply at your vehicle (or another neutral, coordinated location) in Montpelier, at the center of the 8.
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Can your friend meet you to ride along for a little bit? Sure. Can your partner meet up with you mid-ride and pace you through the night, even if they don't bring you snacks? Maybe not. The latter does not seem historically consistent with the self-supported standard. Here are some guidelines to navigate this gray-area:
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If you’re attempting to set a fast time, meet-ups like this will be more heavily scrutinized.
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Coordinated meet-ups with partners or significant others is discouraged.
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Being surprised by a friend or acquaintance who wants to ride with you for a little bit is probably fine. If they want to ride with you for hours, this would be questionable -- unless of course this person is also riding in the Grand Depart or in an ITT. "Grouping up" with other bikepackers also partaking in the event is inevitable, more fun, and safer. Riding in groups during the grand depart is fine. Two riders who are leading the pack should, for example, be careful to avoid drafting behind one another.
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Private film crews are another gray area. Frequent communication with a crew of folks regularly meeting you at various points on the route doesn't seem self-supported, but it may be possible to thread the needle. If you're considering having a film crew document your self-supported Super 8 attempt, please reach out.
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In bikepacking more than any other cycling genre, the course is the world itself. Bikepacking will never be fair because the world is not fair. One rider may have run-ins with people, dogs, and weather that impedes their progress, while the next rider might not. A road might be smooth one year, then resurfaced with chunky gravel the next year. With respect to wild camping with no cell service, a female rider needs to prepare for a different set of risks than a male rider. All of these variables challenge our ideas of "fairness" and make times difficult to compare year-over-year and quite often within the same event.
A final note. Riders enter a self-supported grand depart with a variety of intentions. Most want to take on a challenge and see it through to completion, and they don't care too much about their times. Others want to set the fastest time they can. Because of the variety of intention here, there is also a "sliding scale" of scrutiny in regards to self-supported rules. Blatant violations (hitchhiking along the route, excessive re-routing, food caching) will result in (*) or even SCR for any rider, but gray areas like ride-alongs and missed turns done by riders attempting to set an FKT are liable to face heavier scrutiny than violations made by other riders.
VT Super 8 FKT's (Fastest Known Times) as of April 2021:
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Full 8 (640 mi.), individual male self-supported: Jeff Mullen / 6:09:25 / 2019 GD
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Full 8 (640 mi.), individual female self-supported: Brittni Gorman / 8:10:30 / 2020 GD
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South Lobe (380 mi.), individual male self-supported: Daniel Jordan / 2:07:34 / 2019 GD
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North Lobe (260 mi.), individual male self-supported: Erik Nelson / 1:07:59 / 2020 GD
Trip Reports:
2019
In 2019 we hosted a Grand Depart of the Super 8. Riders had 3 mileage options. The event was registered on Trackleaders.com and can be replayed here. Results are posted below in dd:hh:mm format.
Trip Reports:
2018
In 2018, the Super 8 was undergoing major developments. Payton MacDonald took on an ITT of the perimeter route as part of his "Sonic 8" project.
2017
In 2017, we hosted a "choose your own adventure" Grand Depart. The Super 8 was more of a network than a definitive loop. All 4 riders camped together for the first two nights, then continued on their separate ways.
Brian Oley rode a plus-tire drop bar mtb and explored a lot of singletrack in Central VT. He stayed out for ~10 days.
Daniel Jordan rode most of the Super 8 perimeter on a drop bar mtb. 8 days.
Eric Azriel rode a fat tire mtb and stayed out for 3-4 days.
Kris Dennan rode a gravel bike and joined for 3 days.
previous results
In 2015, Calvin Decker rode the XVT in 38 hours. You can read about his ride here: