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 for masters riders who recover slower than they used to, with more recovery built in between the harder days. Most of the work is aimed at the repeated climbing this race asks for, while the thin air is the race’s demand, not something a plan can hand you — because arriving fit and uninjured is the harder half after fifty.
66 MI · 7,500 FT CLIMBING · ~8.8K FT ALTITUDE · 12 WEEKS · 7–11 HR/WK · MASTERS 50+
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