Gravelón is 54 miles with roughly 2,850 feet of climbing on Rowe Mesa, though wet conditions can change the route. It mixes rough dirt, pavement, rolling gravel, forest doubletrack, and longer climbs in the closing mixed-terrain section.
This is a twelve-week plan for Gravelón’s mixed surface and climbing, built around the higher weekly volume that racing it takes. The work develops sustained power for the longer climbs and endurance across changing surfaces.
54 MI · ~2,850 FT CLIMBING · ROUGH DIRT ROADS, PAVEMENT, ROLLING MESA GRAVEL, FOREST · 12 WEEKS · 9–13 HR/WK · COMPETE
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 Santa Fe Century Gravelón 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