The Cowichan Crusher is 59 miles around Lake Cowichan with roughly 4,500 feet of climbing, on a mix of gravel and forest service roads with variable surface quality and technical sections. Temperatures are mild and rain is possible, with some tree cover for protection.

This is a twelve-week plan for riders who can already put in a long day and want to build for this course specifically, on the hours you have. Most of the work builds steady endurance and time on gravel that varies underfoot, because a course like this asks you to keep climbing and handling loose surfaces well past the halfway grind.

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 Cowichan Crusher Gravel Fondo guide — terrain, gearing, fueling