Training for a Multi-Day Gravel Tour: Building the Fitness You Need
Most gravel riders know how to ride hard. Not all of them know how to ride for eight days straight while tired, on varying surfaces, at altitude.
Training for a multi-day gravel tour is different from training for a one-day event. The focus is not on peak power, but on steady consistency. You need to build the capacity to produce moderate effort repeatedly across days, recover between stages, and handle both technical terrain and long valley crossings without falling apart.
“The goal is not to be a hero on day one. The goal is to be there, strong, on day eight.”
A good training plan for a multi-day gravel tour should span 16–20 weeks. The first 8–10 weeks build aerobic base through longer weekend rides on varied terrain. The next 6–8 weeks layer in specific intensity and climb work. The final 2–4 weeks taper down gradually, allowing your body to recover and consolidate fitness.
Long Rides and Time in the Saddle
Your longest training ride should be 80–120 km depending on the tour’s difficulty. A Tuscany tour requires slightly shorter peaks than a Pyrenees crossing. What matters more than the distance is the consistency: you should be doing 60+ km rides every second weekend for at least 8 weeks.
Use these long rides to practise pacing. Ride them at conversational pace — the speed at which you can still talk, but not sing. This is the pace you will hold for most of a multi-day tour. It feels slow, especially if you are used to racing. That is exactly the point.
Training principles
- Build phase — 8–10 weeks
- Intensity phase — 6–8 weeks
- Taper & recovery — 2–4 weeks
- Peak long rides — 80–120 km
After a solid training block, your preparation is complete when you join a fully supported gravel tour. On ours, guides handle the navigation (guided groups run a maximum of 10 riders per guide), the van moves your luggage hotel to hotel and meets you at lunch with a free refill of PurePower energy drink (energy bars and chews available to buy), so you can put your training to use and let the logistics take care of themselves. See how our tours work, or browse our tours to find the right crossing for the fitness you have built.
Questions riders ask
How many hours per week should I be riding?
A reasonable target is 8–12 hours per week during the build phase, increasing to 12–16 hours during the intensity phase. This breaks down to 3–4 rides per week: two short or moderate rides (1–2 hours) and one long ride (3–5 hours). The exact hours depend on your current fitness — more if you are starting from a low base, less if you already have an aerobic foundation.
Should I train on gravel or road?
Mix both. Your long rides should include significant gravel section to build skills and muscular endurance on technical surfaces. But road or smooth gravel allows you to sustain higher intensity without the constant technical engagement that slows you down. A 100 km tour-paced ride might be 60 km smooth + 40 km technical gravel, not 100 km of demanding single-track.
Do I need to do interval training?
Limited intervals are useful, but not the focus. You need strength on climbs, so 2–3 sessions of sustained hill work per week (say, 8–12 minutes at threshold per session) are valuable. But long, consistent riding at moderate intensity is more important than high-intensity intervals. Save those for race training, not tour training.
Planning a gravel week of your own?
