Lauf True Grit is 84 miles with about 9,000 feet of climbing and 80 percent off-road, over Utah slickrock, sandstone, and rock gardens where line choice decides whether you ride or walk. The technical demands stack up at the Rollers of Doom near mile 30, the Chunky Miles near mile 45, and the final ridge climb near mile 65.
This is a twelve-week plan for riders who can already cover the distance but haven’t built for the repeated technical climbing this course stacks up, worked around the seven to eleven hours a week you have. Most of the work goes toward handling rough, rocky terrain on tired legs and the strength to keep turning the pedals over uphill rock faces, because getting through the Chunky Miles and the final ridge comes down to whether your legs still have something when the course turns hostile.
84 MI · 9,000 FT CLIMBING · SLICKROCK, SANDSTONE FORMATIONS, ROCK GARDENS REQUIRING · 12 WEEKS · 7–11 HR/WK · FINISHER
WHAT'S INSIDE
- Structured workouts on your calendar, with real power and heart-rate graphs
- Strength work built in, with video walkthroughs
- Weekly notes from me, plus the Gravel Grit mental program
- A testing week and a mid-plan retest, so the plan runs on your real numbers
- The full Lauf True Grit Gravel Epic guide — terrain, gearing, fueling
Hey, I'm Matti. I spent 11 years at TrainingPeaks, where they trusted me to teach coaches how to coach at TrainingPeaks University. I raced Amateur Elite with Rio Grande Cycling Team and podiumed my age group at Unbound 200 in 2026. I have a degree in biology and exercise physiology from St. Olaf. I'm also a middle-aged dad of three, so I know training doesn't happen in a vacuum. I help gravel riders get stupidly fast without becoming the person who brings a food scale to a party