Strava Telemetry · 2026 Year to Date

Trail Dossier.

A race-prep field report: every ride, climb, and heartbeat on the road to the Sturdy Dirty. Expert course. Four timed stages. Home mountain.

Days until race
Sturdy Dirty
SAT · JUL 18 2026 · TIGER MTN · EXPERT

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№ 01 · The Build

Year to date, by the numbers.

Every mountain bike ride logged since January 1. The base is built. What's left is the sharpening.

№ 02 · Course Recon

Know the course.

The Sturdy Dirty 2026 Expert loop, from the official Trailforks route: 16.2 miles, 3,418 ft of climbing, two sustained ascents, four timed descents.

▲ STAGE MARKERS APPROXIMATE, PLACED AT THE TOP OF EACH TIMED DESCENT. HIGH POINT 2,963 FT AT MILE ~5.8.

▲ How it stacks against your training

The climbiest-per-mile day you ride.

At 211 ft of climbing per mile, Sturdy Dirty packs in more vert per mile than your typical Tiger lap (~185 ft/mi) or even Dirty Bloom (~170 ft/mi), about 40% of Dirty Bloom's total climbing in a third of the distance, roughly two Tiger laps back-to-back but punchier. Two sustained 1,000–1,500 ft climbs with pitches hitting ~14%. Train it: climb-dense laps, Z5 efforts on the steep stuff, and dialed fueling for a 2.5–3.5 hr push.

№ 03 · Road to Race

Peak, then get fresh.

A suggested six-week structure built off your data. The aerobic base is banked. The win now is sharpening the top end and arriving rested, not piling on volume. Peak week includes a 16-mi / 3,400-ft course simulation.

Weekly target load days out

RELATIVE LOAD, 100 = BIGGEST WEEK. STRUCTURE, NOT GOSPEL.

This week Jul 6 – Jul 12 · sharpen week

11 DAYS OUT. THE BASE IS BANKED, SO THE WEEKEND SIM YOU MISSED TO THE VET RUN DOES NOT MATTER. THE JOB NOW IS CONFIDENCE AND FRESH LEGS: RIDE THE TRAILS YOU RAIL, NOT THE ONES THAT SCARE YOU. VOLUME DOWN, A LITTLE INTENSITY, LOTS OF FUN.

MonJUL 6

✓ done

Lower Pred: went back to the double black and gave the chute real time. Walking a sketchy feature when your head's not there is smart, not a failure. avg HR 136, nice and mellow.

TueJUL 7

✓ rest day

Fully off. 30 minutes fighting that chute yesterday earned you a reset. Fresh legs and a clear head for Wednesday.

WedJUL 8

confidence

Ride the race stages you rail: Atlas, NOTG, Close Encounters. Clean, flowy reps with a few short race-pace efforts. Terrain you know cold. Rebuild the head, no scary new tech.

ThuJUL 9

easy flow

Raging River, your happy place. Roll everything, smile, keep HR low. Pure confidence and joy.

FriJUL 10

primer / rest

A few short openers to stay sharp, or take it off if you're feeling worn.

SatJUL 11

easy loop

A short favorite loop, controlled and confident. Keep it light. Don't chase the missed sim. Race week is next.

SunJUL 12

off / easy

Rest or a short walk. Race week starts Monday.

№ 04 · The Build Log

Measured, not estimated.

Your last 12 key rides with real heart rate from the strap, not Strava's guess. Bar length = HR load (minutes × intensity). Zones on the new max-HR-190 scale.

◎ Pattern worth a tweak

You live in Zone 4.

Nearly every recent ride averages 149–164 bpm, solid Zone 4, the "always moderately hard" gray zone. The engine is clearly there. Race-day gains now come from polarizing: make easy days genuinely easy (Z1–2, spin the SOMA) so you actually recover, and add short Z5 intervals and sprint repeats on Tiger to sharpen the top end. That, plus skills and course recon, beats more Z4 grind.

№ 05 · Ride by Ride

Every ride this year, by effort.

Each bar is one MTB ride this year, colored by trail system. The Sedona block, the Dirty Bloom monolith, the June ramp back onto Tiger. Hover for detail.

№ 06 · Hall of Dirt

The biggest days.

Year-to-date MTB rides ranked by relative effort.

	Ride	Dist	Climb	Time	Effort