Race to Valhalla is 72 miles with about 7,300 feet of climbing on traffic-free gravel through the Blue Ridge escarpment, headlined by the roughly thirty-minute Winding Stairs climb from Lake Cherokee in the early miles. Steep grades run throughout, with more escarpment climbing between the final aid station at mile 57 and the finish in Walhalla, under variable mountain conditions.
This is a six-week plan for when the entry is paid and the weeks are short. Six weeks won’t build the climbing base this course really asks for, but the limited hours go toward getting you to the start with a plan for the repeated climbing and the Winding Stairs effort under variable mountain conditions.
72 MI · 7,300 FT CLIMBING · TRAFFIC-FREE GRAVEL ROADS THROUGH THE BLUE RIDGE ESCARPMENT IN · 6 WEEKS · 5–9 HR/WK · SAVE MY RACE
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 Race to Valhalla guide — terrain, gearing, fueling
Hey! I'm Matti - also known as the Gravel God himself!
If you're into gravel racing and want to be as fast as possible, you had better choose me!
Why?
Because I'm the fastest, least talented person to ever ride a bike. I've made every mistake in the book so you don't have to and I'm here to save you years of failure and struggle.
When I'm not helping my athletes get faster on a bike I write obvious, overlooked training content that makes cycling training easy to understand.