Kettle Mettle is 62 miles that starts on the gentle Kettle Valley rail grade, then leaves the rail bed for forest service roads above Princeton, where nearly all of its 5,889 feet of climbing is collected. The late miles return to rail-trail with wooden trestles and decommissioned tunnels dark enough to want a light, in warm, dry interior-BC June heat that often reaches the high 20s Celsius by afternoon.
This is a twelve-week plan for riders working with about seven to eleven hours a week. Most of the work goes toward the repeated climbing on the forest service roads and holding an even pace on the deceptive rail-grade flats, so the miles fit the hours you actually have.
62 MI · 5,889 FT CLIMBING · KETTLE VALLEY RAILWAY RAIL-TRAIL GRADE · 12 WEEKS · 7–11 HR/WK · FINISHER
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 Kettle Mettle 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