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Video: Mike Cotty's 674km, 34-hour, 16,000m Trans-Alps epic, part twoMike Cotty Alps video 2 - 1

Video: Mike Cotty's 674km, 34-hour, 16,000m Trans-Alps epic, part two

Conclusion of Mike's inspiring ride across the lumpy bit of Europe...
by John Stevenson
Fri, Sep 06, 2013 12:59
23

In one of the more bonkers endurance epics of a summer that seemed to be full of them, on August 5 and 6 Mike Cotty rode 674km from Evian-les-Bains to Nice in under 34 hours, crossing 17 passes and climbing 16,000m on the way.

Shortly after, his sponsor Mavic released the first of two videos of the ride, covering the section from Evian-les-Bains to the top of the Galibier.

In part two we rejoin Mike just as dawn breaks over the Alps and he contemplates the 2,800m Col de la Bonette.

Mike says: “When I put the plan together I wasn’t sure I had the ability to do it, but part of the fun is just trying. I get a lot of satisfaction from pushing myself and seing if I can rise to the challenge.”

Rise to it he did. Chapeau!

Mike Cotty
John Stevenson

John has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.

He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.

Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.

John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.

He joined road.cc in 2013. He lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.

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