Stoneman Miriquidi Road Training Plan & Preparation

Course & Elevation

The Gold distance of the Stoneman Miriquidi Road is a closed loop that starts and finishes in the Erzgebirge, briefly brushing the Czech border along the way. The route runs on quiet secondary roads through forest and over ridge lines, largely away from major roads. Barely a fifth of the distance is genuinely flat; the rest splits almost evenly between climbing and descending, so the rhythm keeps shifting all day.

The first climb arrives after 37 kilometres – a category 2 effort of nearly 5.7 kilometres – followed almost immediately by a shorter category 3 ramp at kilometre 47, an early one-two punch. By far the longest climb of the day follows at kilometre 107: 8.8 kilometres, category 2, sitting squarely in the second half of the route. From there, shorter category 3 ramps at kilometres 127, 157 and 200 alternate with long descents, before the gradients bunch up again in the final third at kilometres 228 and 274. Even past that last named climb, the terrain stays rollier than the remaining distance suggests – there's no coasting into the finish.

Pacing Strategy

The Stoneman Miriquidi Road isn't decided on the first climb, but much later. The double ramp at kilometres 37 and 47 feels like an early gauge and tempts riders to go hard there – but anyone who burns matches on it will feel it on the climb that actually decides the day, the 8.8-kilometre effort at kilometre 107, the longest and hardest section of the Gold route.

Restraint after kilometre 107 pays off, because the ramps at 127, 157 and 200 arrive with little recovery in between, and the final third stacks short, sharp climbs at 228 and 274 onto legs that are already tired. With climbing and descending together making up close to 80 percent of the route, it's also worth not tensing up on the more technical descents – save watts where you can, and hold something back for the last 60 kilometres, where the course still has one more push in it.

12-Week Preparation

For the Gold distance of the Stoneman Miriquidi Road, a fit amateur should plan on nine to thirteen hours in the saddle depending on form – a day closer to an ultra-distance effort than a conventional road race, especially since the event is ridden as a solo time trial against the clock rather than in a bunch.

The effort is mostly steady and aerobic, but interrupted eight times by climbs that are short and sharp rather than long and even – each one calls for brief anaerobic surges without any single mountain defining the whole day.

The race-deciding section is the 8.8-kilometre climb at kilometre 107, which demands more sustained strength than the shorter ramps around it simply because of its length. Just as important is the final third: the climbs at kilometres 228 and 274 land on legs that are already heavily fatigued, and the terrain keeps rolling even after that last named climb.

Training benefits from long base rides of seven hours or more, ideally with climbing repeats loaded into the final third of the ride to rehearse exactly that fatigue state. Add rides on rolling terrain that mirror the constant climb-descend switching, plus practice with fuelling and pacing across a full day out, since the route relies on checkpoints rather than continuous aid.