The Lowell Classic closes the Michigan Gravel Race Series each October: fifty-four miles along the Flat River and the rolling farm roads of rural Ionia County, with about 2,150 feet of climbing in short, repeated hills — and a morning that can start in the 40s.
This is a six-week plan. Six weeks isn’t enough to build endurance for the long course from scratch, but it’s enough to get your legs as ready as the time allows — and to start with a pacing plan for a course that rolls the whole way.
54 MI · 2,150 FT CLIMBING · 82% UNPAVED, ROLLING HILLS · 6 WEEKS · 5–9 HR/WK · SAVE MY RACE
WHAT'S INSIDE
- Triage — the highest-value work for the time left, on real graphs, not PDFs
- Strength kept to what helps, not what fills time, with video demos
- Notes on pacing a rolling day within yourself + the Gravel Grit program
- A testing week so the work fits the fitness you have now
- The full Lowell Classic guide — pacing, fueling, gearing, so smart riding covers what training couldn’t
WHAT YOU'LL GET
The best salvaged version of your race — finishing with something left, not unraveling in the final hills.
For the rider who’s out of runway but not out of the race. · plans@gravelgodcoaching.com
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