The Highlands Gravel Classic is 67 miles with about 4,850 feet of climbing on 95% gravel that runs chunky, loose, and sharp. The rollers push the pace early, the wooded descents are fast and loose with limited visibility, and a steep 12% kick comes near mile 51 with more climbing still to the finish. Late April in the Ozarks is unpredictable — anywhere from 80°F and humid to 40°F and raining, with rain making the loose corners slick.
This is a twelve-week plan for finishing the Highlands Gravel Classic on the hours you actually have, in the 7 to 11 per week range. Most of the work builds the durability to keep climbing on chunky, loose gravel deep into the day, with time spent handling fast, loose corners, because the steep kick late in the race arrives on legs that have already covered most of the course.
67 MI · 4,850 FT CLIMBING · 95% GRAVEL—CHUNKY, LOOSE, AND SHARP · 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 Highlands Gravel Classic guide — terrain, gearing, fueling
Hey! I'm Matti - also known as the Gravel God himself!
If you're into gravel racing and want to be as fast as possible, you had better choose me!
Why?
Because I'm the fastest, least talented person to ever ride a bike. I've made every mistake in the book so you don't have to and I'm here to save you years of failure and struggle.
When I'm not helping my athletes get faster on a bike I write obvious, overlooked training content that makes cycling training easy to understand.