Le Grand du Nord is 110 miles on mostly gravel and dirt forest roads, about 5,000 feet of climbing spread across constant rolling terrain, with a stretch of technical doubletrack. Temperatures stay cool near Lake Superior, and in the spring wet season rain is possible.
This is a twelve-week plan for riders who want to get to the start of a hundred and ten miles ready, built around seven to eleven hours a week. Most of the work goes toward long days on rolling gravel and time on the bike, because the demand here is distance over constantly rolling terrain rather than any single climb.
110 MI · 5,000 FT CLIMBING · 70% GRAVEL/DIRT FOREST ROADS, 20% PAVED, 10% TECHNICAL · 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 Le Grand du Nord 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