USA Cycling Gravel Nationals is 110 miles on the champagne gravel of Minnesota’s Driftless region, with about 7,000 feet of climbing that comes as frequent short, steep pitches — some over 7 percent — that accumulate all day rather than one long climb. Mid-September usually brings ideal, dry racing weather, with occasional loose sections from fresh gravel grading.
This is a six-week plan for Gravel Nationals, built around the weeks you have left. Six weeks can’t build the endurance a 110-mile Driftless day demands from scratch — but with a base, it’s enough to extend your long ride and get you to the start with a plan for the repeated steep pitches.
110 MI · 7,000 FT CLIMBING · PREDOMINANTLY GRAVEL ROADS (~90%+) · 6 WEEKS · 5–9 HR/WK · SAVE MY RACE
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, so the plan runs on your real numbers
- The full USA Cycling Gravel Nationals 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.