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 an eight-week plan for riders training on four to six hours a week. Most of the work goes toward the climbing block above Princeton, because that stretch collects nearly all of the day’s climbing, and the limited hours are spent on the effort the forest service roads ask for rather than the flat rail-grade miles.
62 MI · 5,889 FT CLIMBING · KETTLE VALLEY RAILWAY RAIL-TRAIL GRADE · 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 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