The Mid South’s current main route is 106.9 miles with 6,506 feet of climbing on Oklahoma red-clay roads, rolling prairie, and a rough private doubletrack sector. Dry conditions can make it fast and tactical; rain can turn the clay into wheel-stopping mud.
This is an eight-week plan built around four to six hours a week and the fitness you already have. The work is narrowed to efficient endurance, repeatable power, and race-specific practice for the course’s rolling, weather-sensitive character.
106.9 MI · 6,506 FT CLIMBING · RED CLAY + 6,506 FT OF ROLLERS · 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 Mid South 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