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 an eight-week plan for riders who have four to six hours a week against a job and a family, and need those hours to count against a course this steep. Most of the work goes toward repeated climbing and the endurance to carry it across 66 miles, though the thin air is the race’s demand, not something a plan can hand you.
66 MI · 7,500 FT CLIMBING · ~8.8K FT ALTITUDE · 8 WEEKS · 4–6 HR/WK · TIME-CRUNCHED
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 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