Reliance Deep Woods is two race days of mountain climbing in Tennessee’s Cherokee National Forest — no course markings, just you, your GPS, and the woods.
The gravel runs to eroded roadbeds and embedded rock, the climbs are long forest grades, and Sunday’s stage starts on legs that raced Saturday. This is a six-week plan for the weeks you have left, built around what still moves the needle: six weeks won’t build climbing fitness from scratch, but it will sharpen what you have, rehearse pacing so Saturday doesn’t spend what Sunday needs, and sort navigation and gearing before the start.
70 MI · 8,100 FT CLIMBING · UNMARKED FOREST GRAVEL · 6 WEEKS · 5–9 HR/WK · SAVE MY RACE
WHAT'S INSIDE
- Triage — the highest-value work for the time left, on real graphs
- Strength kept to what helps, not what fills time, with video demos
- Notes on pacing two days within yourself + the Gravel Grit program
- A testing week so the work fits the fitness you have now
- The full Reliance Deep Woods guide — pacing, gearing, fueling, and navigating an unmarked course
WHAT YOU'LL GET
The best salvaged version of your weekend — finishing with something left, not unraveling on Sunday.
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