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news
Col-du-Galibier-thumbnailThe Col Collective release their first video: Col du Galibier
If you've been following the exploits of mile and mountain machine Mike Cotty recently you'll know that apart from riding further and further over the Alps in one go, he's also been instrumental in setting up The Col Collective, with the stated aim of "Guiding you to the summit of the greatest mountain passes in the world with expert advice and support"
Exactly what that means will have to wait until the full launch of the website, which Mike says is still a couple of weeks away. But to whet your appetite The Col Collective has released its first video, and what a place to start: the mighty Col du Galibier.
at 2,645m the Galibier is a favourite climb for the Tour de France, appearing over 30 times, and more often than not it's the highest point of the whole race. Generally the Tour climbs the Galibier from Valloire having already crested the Col du Télégraphe, and it's 18km to the top from Valloire, at an average of 6.9%. Watch Mike do it. He makes it look kind of easy. Or, at least, easy on the eye. We're glad it wasn't us being filmed winching ourselves up to the top. It'd be a much less graceful video, with more swearing.
"Every time I ride the Galibier I have the same feeling of pure freedom whilst never being quite sure what the elements will deal on any particular day", Mike says of the video. "So what does it mean when half of the sheep are sat down and the other half are stood up? Are they the weather gods of the mountain? Watch now and find out what this truly magnificent mountain holds in store for every rider. I hope you like what you see: I think it’s more exhausting making these videos that riding the climbs!"
"In a couple of weeks time you’ll be able to get further support and advice from our partners over at The Col Collective. Until then please help share our story with your friends and fellow riders, leave us a comment, subscribe to the channel and get in touch on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. We want you to be as much of this journey as we are, together riding bikes and helping each other along the way. Stay tuned for the next video coming soon. We seem to have a lot of climbs starting with "G": can you guess which one is coming next?"
Dave is a founding father of road.cc, having previously worked on Cycling Plus and What Mountain Bike magazines back in the day. He also writes about e-bikes for our sister publication ebiketips. He's won three mountain bike bog snorkelling World Championships, and races at the back of the third cats.
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16 comments
Lovely, just lovely.
[[[[[ Ruined by all that slow-slow-slow motion. He's not riding 3 mph., so why pretend he is? Seems to me there's more slow-mo in this video than honest footage. 10 out of 10 for the ride---zero out of 10 for the editing. Cycling's great to watch. Just show it like it is, and put the toys away.
P.R.
Sorry for all the slow mo's Phil. Just trying to savor the moment, such a beautiful mountain it never fails to take me to a better place. Was hoping others may relate to that feeling with the slower shots. Glad you like the ride, surely I score at least a 1 out of 10 for the edit just for managing to get it online?
Note to self, must try harder. Ride safe. Mike
Slow-mo worked fine. Good editing. But I sometimes felt that the camera angles didn't do justice to your efforts. Either that org they made it look easier than it is. (Come to think of it, was that intentional?
)
Let me give our camera guy a right royal telling off for making it look far too easy! Hopefully some of the shots here make up for it. http://youtu.be/1hDj23a9y1c The one at 2 min 57 sec always makes me smile (with pain)!
Ride safe.
Mike
Galibier wasn't that easy when I rode it...
Awesome video. Really brought back some great memories
Good of you to include the slo-mo sections, much closer to the speed I was going on the way up!
Fantastic video Mike. Nice combo of cycling info and beautiful shots, the only downside is that summer feels a long way away this morning!!
We're hoping this series of videos will help make the winter pass a little quicker! Not sure how I'm going to survive the darker months if I'm honest
Great video, Mike makes it look so effortless! I am returning to the Alps in June with Galibier top of the list of must-do's, this helps to inspire me to get the training in.
Croix de Fer would make for a great video with it's changing landscapes, I am looking forward to seeing what else they come up with!
I put my camera face on, as soon as it was off I started puffing and wheezing! We've got Croix de Fer in the bag so that will be coming over the winter too. Best of luck with the training. Stay focused, the Alps will be magical when you carve your way up them!
Mike
Really enjoyed that. Looked great.
Glandon ?
Also got the Glandon covered, which is a climb that should never be taken lightly! Thanks for watching. More coming very soon!
Passo Giau?
Yep, the Passo Giau is on the way!