The organizer confirms Hazel Valley Rally for Saturday, April 10, 2027 and directly links the 62.5-mile Have Mercy On Me route with 5,933 feet of climbing on rugged Ozark National Forest roads.
This eight-week Time-Crunched plan narrows the work to repeatable climbing sessions, one purposeful longer ride, handling practice, and race-system rehearsals without filler.
62.5 MI · 5,933 FT CLIMBING · RUGGED OZARK FOREST GRAVEL · 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 Hazel Valley Rally 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