Ned Gravel is 66 miles with about 7,500 feet of climbing on Colorado Rockies gravel, starting above 8,000 feet and averaging around 8,800. The air stays thin the whole way, and afternoon storms and cool mountain conditions are possible.
This is a twelve-week plan built around the higher weekly hours that racing takes, not just finishing the distance. The volume is higher and the hard days more specific, because a result here comes from climbing repeatedly on thin air, and the altitude is the race’s demand rather than anything a plan can hand you.
66 MI · 7,500 FT CLIMBING · ~8.8K FT ALTITUDE · 12 WEEKS · 9–13 HR/WK · COMPETE
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 Ned Gravel 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