news

Mike Cotty on the Croix de Fer

Mike Cotty smashes 674km epic Alpine challenge

17 mountain passes and 16,000m of climbing in under 34hrs

by Mat Brett

Wed, Aug 07, 2013 10:56

Mike Cotty has completed his epic Alpine challenge, 674km of riding and 16,066m of climbing, in 33:39hrs.

Mike started the ride in Evian les Bains, on Lake Geneva, on Monday morning at 9am. He then rode 17 mountain passes, including some the most famous climbs in the Alps: Col de la Colombière, Madeleine, Glandon, Croix de Fer, Télégraphe, Galibier, Izoard, Vars, Bonette and Madone. Five of the passes took him up to over 2,000m.

Mike finally finished his mega-ride on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, yesterday evening.

When he finished, Mike tweeted, “I'm going to start by having the biggest pizza & ice cream in Nice! I'm sure I wasn't this skinny 33 hours ago!!”

We’ve given you details of the route before and shown you the Cannondale Evo Hi-Mod bike that he was using for the ride.

For comparison, Mount Everest is a height of 8,848m, so Mike’s elevation increase over the course of his ride was nearly the equivalent of scaling the world’s highest mountain twice over. Or, keeping things closer to home, it's about the same as riding the height of Ben Nevis 12 times.

Mike rode more or less continuously with just occasional essential short stops, with vehicle support provided by one of his sponsors, Mavic. He completed the ride well inside his original estimate of 36hrs, at an average speed of around 20kph.

Congratulations to Mike from road.cc.

Mike Cotty

Mat Brett

Mat has been in cycling media since 1996, on titles including BikeRadar, Total Bike, Total Mountain Bike, What Mountain Bike and Mountain Biking UK, and he has been editor of 220 Triathlon and Cycling Plus. Mat has been road.cc technical editor for over a decade, testing bikes, fettling the latest kit, and trying out the most up-to-the-minute clothing. He has won his category in Ironman UK 70.3 and finished on the podium in both marathons he has run. Mat is a Cambridge graduate who did a post-grad in magazine journalism, and he is a winner of the Cycling Media Award for Specialist Online Writer. Now over 50, he's riding road and gravel bikes most days for fun and fitness rather than training for competitions.

Add new comment

35 comments

TeamCC | 11 years ago

0 likes

Amazing 34 hour ride, knowing how tough a few hills can be and Mike went on for that long under intense physical activity.

I don't think I could sit on a stationary bicycle that long!

a_to_the_j | 11 years ago

0 likes

well done!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Martin Thomas | 11 years ago

0 likes

Wow...

Saintyl | 11 years ago

0 likes

Brilliant ride Mike, proper inspiring stuff.

Carvers | 11 years ago

0 likes

Well done Mike, an amazing effort!

banzicyclist2 | 11 years ago

0 likes

Amazing effort..... respect!

Docroddy | 11 years ago

0 likes

Pizza and ice cream? Sack that! Steak and chips... twice!

Yennings replied to Docroddy | 10 years ago

0 likes

@Docroddy He's a vegetarian though...

Spooks | 11 years ago

0 likes

Just a stunning achievement, wow!

altobici | 11 years ago

0 likes

About the same time for my Haute Route alps 2012 - except I had 6 sleeps!!!!!! Fantastic stuff Mr Cotty

Ginsterdrz | 11 years ago

0 likes

Read a bit deeper and discovered this was an organised race. I was under the impression it was a solo effort:

Final update: Mike finished in 10th place in exactly 27 hours - top work fella! and only five hours back on the winner, Maurizio Vandelli...

# Vandelli Maurizio (1) @2009-06-20 10:05:00
# Dörschlag Ekkehard (49) @2009-06-20 10:45:00
# Zörweg Heinz (2) @2009-06-20 11:45:00
# Strebel Thomas (19) @2009-06-20 12:00:00
# Fischer Rene (4) @2009-06-20 13:00:00
# Lindner Paul (3) @2009-06-20 13:28:00
# Ratschob Thomas (41) @2009-06-20 13:51:00
# Huber Armin (29) @2009-06-20 14:34:00
# Settimio Guidio (42) @2009-06-20 14:54:00
# Cotty Mike (33) @2009-06-20 15:00:00

Benway replied to Ginsterdrz | 11 years ago

0 likes

Ginsterdrz wrote:

Read a bit deeper and discovered this was an organised race. I was under the impression it was a solo effort:

Final update: Mike finished in 10th place in exactly 27 hours - top work fella! and only five hours back on the winner, Maurizio Vandelli...

# Vandelli Maurizio (1) @2009-06-20 10:05:00
# Dörschlag Ekkehard (49) @2009-06-20 10:45:00
# Zörweg Heinz (2) @2009-06-20 11:45:00
# Strebel Thomas (19) @2009-06-20 12:00:00
# Fischer Rene (4) @2009-06-20 13:00:00
# Lindner Paul (3) @2009-06-20 13:28:00
# Ratschob Thomas (41) @2009-06-20 13:51:00
# Huber Armin (29) @2009-06-20 14:34:00
# Settimio Guidio (42) @2009-06-20 14:54:00
# Cotty Mike (33) @2009-06-20 15:00:00

That was a different ride from 4 years ago.

Les Alpes was a solo challenge with support car this week.

Mike Cotty replied to Ginsterdrz | 11 years ago

0 likes

Ginsterdrz wrote:

Read a bit deeper and discovered this was an organised race. I was under the impression it was a solo effort:

Final update: Mike finished in 10th place in exactly 27 hours - top work fella! and only five hours back on the winner, Maurizio Vandelli...

# Vandelli Maurizio (1) @2009-06-20 10:05:00
# Dörschlag Ekkehard (49) @2009-06-20 10:45:00
# Zörweg Heinz (2) @2009-06-20 11:45:00
# Strebel Thomas (19) @2009-06-20 12:00:00
# Fischer Rene (4) @2009-06-20 13:00:00
# Lindner Paul (3) @2009-06-20 13:28:00
# Ratschob Thomas (41) @2009-06-20 13:51:00
# Huber Armin (29) @2009-06-20 14:34:00
# Settimio Guidio (42) @2009-06-20 14:54:00
# Cotty Mike (33) @2009-06-20 15:00:00

This was from June 2009. A great event but very tough day in the saddle. 22 out of my 27 hours were spent in the rain. This week made up for that pain!!

Leviathan | 11 years ago

0 likes

CCC2014 = Cotty's Crazy Classic.
Anyone want to arrange a hypersportive?

Mike Cotty replied to Leviathan | 11 years ago

0 likes

I'm in!

russyparkin | 11 years ago

0 likes

wow. man points. good to see it done on a class bike as well.

bendip | 11 years ago

0 likes

Remarkable personal achievement, that amount of climbing is jaw dropping, whenever i read about ultradistance riding and the incredible stats it unearths i think of Tommy Godwin,who in 1939,cycled 75,065 miles – an average of 205 miles per day on a steel 4 spd bike that weighed over 30 pounds

http://www.tommygodwin.com/

It's about the bloke, not the bike

billyman | 11 years ago

0 likes

amazing achievement, I'm so jealous

usedtobefaster | 11 years ago

0 likes

Well done Mike. Absolutely amazing achievement.

vasgko2 | 11 years ago

0 likes

Absolutely mad. I wish I had the courage to do just one third of it!!! Congratulations!!

mikecassie | 11 years ago

0 likes

There's only one word to describe Mike, Beast.....
Well done for completing the ride in such a quick time, I'm lucky to do 20kph on the flat

TheFatAndTheFurious | 11 years ago

0 likes

Mike, remember to post that as a Strava segment so we can all have a go at beating that time....

bfslxo replied to TheFatAndTheFurious | 11 years ago

0 likes

neildmoss wrote:

Mike, remember to post that as a Strava segment so we can all have a go at beating that time....

my thoughts exactly - i reckon you can be looking back at that one in several years time & you'll still hold the KOM

sorebones | 11 years ago

0 likes

Inspirational stuff, congratulations. I will remember this and 'man-up' when I go to the Alps in a few weeks!

alotronic | 11 years ago

0 likes

Wow. Respect!

VecchioJo | 11 years ago

0 likes

excellent work Mike, i think you've earned two pizzas

Colin Peyresourde | 11 years ago

0 likes

Congratulations. Looking forward to hearing your loopiest thought that kept you going.

Mike Cotty replied to Colin Peyresourde | 11 years ago

0 likes

Colin Peyresourde wrote:

Congratulations. Looking forward to hearing your loopiest thought that kept you going.

I think having the voice of Phil Liggett resonating around my head for quite a few hours could be close to the top spot Colin!!

crazy-legs | 11 years ago

0 likes

Hats off Mike - you're utterly insane but properly hardcore!

Well done!

YorkshireMike | 11 years ago

0 likes

Superb effort, one that many of us could only dream of conquering. Chapeau.

Latest Comments

wtjs 1 hour 57 min ago

it seems that most places just rely on sufficient policing to reduce the issue...

in: Phone driver caught by camera cyclist smashes into car
Matt Page 2 hours 41 min ago

Many manufacturers, including Scribe, can give you methods to reduce the noise level. On Scribe, and other ratchet designs it's usually just adding...

in: Is more hub engagement always better?
wtjs 3 hours 19 min ago

It wouldn't work at all where wtjs lives...

in: Through traffic to be banned in parts of Bristol for ‘liveable neighbourhood’ scheme
Sriracha 3 hours 35 min ago

Pretty sure AI could skim through hours of footage in a few seconds to identify suspicious events. Of course someone in authority has to care in...

in: Journalist tracks down stolen cargo bike without police
chrisonabike 3 hours 43 min ago

Bonsai samurai? Or is it just a case of "they seem to get smaller every year"?

in: Air-filled cycling backpack likely to hit funding goal
IanGlasgow 4 hours 46 min ago

Sorry to see Endura struggling. They're based in Linvignston, not Edinburgh, which puts them very close to where I grew up....

in: Endura posts huge £14m loss after drop in sales
mdavidford 6 hours 27 min ago

I dunno - seems like it's coming round on a regular basis...

in: Lapierre bike "a new pinnacle of endurance cycling"
Rich_cb 8 hours 9 min ago

The mistake is to focus on the US....

in: Cyclist charged $1800 by ambulance driver who hit him
chrisonabike 8 hours 21 min ago

I mean it seems silly to complain in detail when we're firmly in the territory in the UK of "you will have to live with this the rest of your life ...

in: Drivers and their problems
eburtthebike 10 hours 52 min ago

I thought students were supposed to be intelligent?

in: Students claim lack of car parking is harming their studies