Training guide · Gravel · Colorado, USA
How to train for SBT GRVL
25 June 2027. High-altitude gravel out of Steamboat Springs on fast ranch roads and long steady climbs. Here is what the day asks of you, and when your plan has to start.
- Date
- Fri 25 Jun 2027
- Weeks to go
- —
- Start
- Steamboat Springs
- Routes
- 40 · 85 · 124 · 174 km
- Climbing
- 2,496 m
- Format
- Timed, mass start, mostly gravel
What this event asks of you
SBT GRVL is high-altitude gravel in northern Colorado, and the altitude is the first thing to plan for. Steamboat Springs sits high, the courses climb higher, and riders arriving from sea level find their usual climbing power is simply not available. The gravel is mostly smooth and fast, which makes the long route a sustained aerobic effort rather than a technical one, with long steady climbs and open ranch roads where groups and wind matter. Afternoon thunderstorms are a feature of a Colorado summer, so the later finishers face weather as well as fatigue.
The physiology is endurance and sustained tempo climbing in thin air, and the realistic answer to the altitude is pacing: ride by effort and feel, not by the power numbers you hold at home. Arrive early if you can, and if you cannot, plan a more conservative first half than feels right. Fuelling and hydration are harder at altitude and the dry air hides how much you are losing. Train long rides with extended tempo climbs, practise group riding on fast gravel, and set expectations for the day on what the air allows, not on your best ride at home.
The day by rider level
| Route | Typical finish | What it needs |
|---|---|---|
| 174 km | — | Sustained tempo climbing at altitude, pacing by effort not power, hydration in dry air, group riding on fast gravel |
| 124 km | — | A long day at altitude with steady climbing and conservative early pacing |
| 85 km | — | Fast gravel in groups with the altitude respected |
| 40 km | — | A first high-altitude gravel ride at a steady effort |
When your plan has to start
Counted back from the event date. If the organiser moves the date, these move with it.
Decisive features
- 1Altitude
- 2Long steady gravel climbs
- 3Afternoon storms
Course detail is published by the organiser each year. Climb lengths and gradients will come from the route engine once the GPX is loaded.
Other guides for the same block of the year
- How to train for Unbound Gravel3 Jun 2027
- How to train for Dragon Ride13 Jun 2027
- How to train for Marmotte Gran Fondo Alps27 Jun 2027