The organizer confirms Low Gap Grasshopper for Sunday, January 31, 2027. Its current long course covers 59 miles and 6,585 feet over five percent pavement and 95 percent dirt, including private Mendocino Redwood Company roads and a long opening climb.
This eight-week Time-Crunched plan narrows the work to repeatable race efforts, one purposeful endurance ride, and sustained-climb restraint and technical dirt-road control. The compressed runway protects recovery while still proving food, fluid, tire, repair, and pacing decisions before race week.
59 MI · 6,585 FT CLIMBING · 95% DIRT + 6,585 FT CLIMBING · 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 Low Gap Grasshopper 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