Ketone-IQ: https://Ketone.com/CAMNICHOLLS (save 30% off your first sub order + a free six pack)
Channel Subscription: https://bit.ly/2NViYKI
Mitch’s channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/MitchBoyer
In this video, Mitch Boyer and I tackle one of the Tour de France’s most epic climbs, the Col du Galibier. Initially we attempt to hold Grupetto pace and then we race each other. This video comes just before Stage 4 of the 2024 Tour de France, where they will be racing up the same climb. Thanks to Michi Sha and Lantern Rouge for helping us come up with the watts per KG number.
Article” https://www.mysportscience.com/post/2015/03/05/altitude-effects-on-endurance-performance
#tourdefrance #cycling
44 Comments
Just done Le Marmotte up it last week, horrific but incredible climb.
curious what gearing you both used?
The joys of altitude without acclimation. Very entertaining 😊
Another fuuny tourist.Watts per kilo?😂😂😂
Do you have a video explaining % and degrees?
Amazing video
Do Tourmalet next
Mitch absolutely sending his HR so far north of 190 for so long is crazy. Cardiac tissue got a nice workout but DAMN.
A few years back I drove from sea level to Lone Pine. The next day I climbed Mt Whitney (8,000' to 14,505'). Interesting experience.
Yeah the altitude is real! The first time I encounter that was when I went for a cycling trip to Qinghai Lake (3000 meter above sea level). When I was just ride along with family it all feels good except you become more easily out of breath. But later when I tried to do some effort… that is crucial… it mostly just moves your threshold. 250 watts feels like 300, which is about my threshold at sea level. And it takes way more effort to recover. It hurt me so much both physically and mentally so that I didn't bother sleep that night but went to do some researching into the impact of altitude to cycling performance. It turns out that at 3000m you should expect a 20% loss in power. However because the air is less dense, you should expect not as much a speed drop at flat. However it didn't feel exactly that way either… Lung just explodes! BTW there's an UCI stage race there and a lot of research data on altitude is from this race — not so many pro races take place at this high altitude. However it's very different to feel it first hand even if you thought you know the theory. It's devastating! Plus side is when you return to your sea level, you'll have your super power, for… about 2 weeks. For me it's threshold pace becomes easy-ish pace and you'll suspect your watch's broken.
Awesome ride & video. On my Wishlist….
Started at col du lautaret? Mark it zero.
You should sign up for La Marmótte guys, you get to do Croix de fer, Mollard, Telegraphe, Valloire, Galibier then Huez! I'm 51 and made it, just!
What is the last song?
Striking difference in handlebar width. The narrower one seems too close for proper breathing on sustained, intense climbs.
Props to both riders, though!
Epic views
@MitchBoyer – Thanks for sharing this great ride and superb landscapes! What selfie stick is this, that you can attach to the front of the roadbike ? Thanks!
How did you mount your insta360 camera? I have an S5 Cervelo which have wide/flat intergraded handlebars (similar to the BMC) and have struggled to find a mount that is secure enough to hold the weight of the camera with similar set up (carbon pole)
2600 meters, that's like 1.1 billion feet. And 20 kilometers, that's like 6 trillion miles. oh well! And 26 degrees celsius, which is like 500 degrees Fahrenheit. Dang…..for those still using the incorrect measuments THAT the rest of the world uses.
I rode the Galibier 5 days after you and that last bit after the tunnel is definitely hard! I maintained about 3.1 w/kg over the whole distance from the Col du Lauteret and it was a LOT. It's a helluva climb, though, and the scenery distracts from the pain.
Wow, it hurts to watch this video. Kudos to you both for reaching the peak. Peace.
I wasted 6 mins good bye
It’s even harder in a blizzard
I found it horrendous in the heat
Glad I did it but will never return
"I'm being penetrated"? This guy is a bit weird.
i'm too old to maintain a 180 heart rate for that long 😛
oomg… imagine if they had chest cameras on some riders during a stage like this during the tour. that would be insane!
A school friend and I did the Galibier same week as we did Alp D’Huez and I’d say I found the Galibier more fun, maybe I was better prepared than when we did Alp D’Huez. We were both in our 40s when we did them.
Great video as always.
I know you're an Aussie but please learn how to say Galibier. It grates every time you say it ending with an 'err'. All the best!
scenery is amazing ♥
"I sound like I'm being penetrated".
🤣 🤣 😂 🤣 😂 🤣
I hope that's from your imagination and not memory!
Did you go down the otherside into Valloire and then down the Telegraph. The Telegraph is a great climb and in some ways more fun that the Galibier. The north side of the Galibier is a much harder climb than the side shown in the video.
All the climbs are easier than the might Col du Grannon which is just off the lower slopes of the Lautaret. It's an unrelenting monster of a climb that just seems like it will never end. Harder than the Galibier, Alpe d'huez and the Izoard combined…
Wow, the scenery is awesome – pure gold.
Thanks to you guys for showing us what it’s like to climb the fearsome and legendary Gaulibier!
Non-cyclists have little idea how much of cycling involves real, painful suffering. You really have to love cycling to do it as a hobby. What the Professional do is off the charts and nearly unimaginable by us mere mortals.
Riding the Galibier isn't anywhere near as hard as having to listen to that shit music in the video.
Like the rest of it though.
I live in the US at just over 8000 feet in the Rockies. A similar altitude to the top of the Galibier. I always love watching sea level guys come up here and try to do some of our climbs. Altitude sickness is real. That said, you guys did great. Loved the video.
Fantastic scenery, couldn't watch it to the end because of the horrible music. Would have been nice to have an altitude meter along with all the other data you were showing. I was most interested in that, since that was the one big thing affecting your performance
This is what cycling looked like before EPO in 1991. People actually got tired.
This was a great report! Well done for the attempt, guys!
In June 1989 I retraced Stephen Roche's '87 Tour for charity and climbed the Lautaret & Galibier on the stage that started with the Glibber, then Madeleine and finished in the historic La Plagne ski resort. This took me right back. I'll be 60 in September and will attempt to redo this stage next late spring/early summer… Such torture we put ourselves through for the love of this 'activity'… and yet, what incalculable reward! 👌🇮🇪☘😉
Does anyone know what he uses to overlay the data on his videos? What equipment to get the data and what software to overlay it?
It’s a wonderful climb but you should have dropped over The Telegraph down to St Jean du Marauene (spelling) and then climbed back up the Telegraph and The Galibier, that’s one hell of a climb !!
That Mitch cassette… Bigger than mine mtb one xD. He did prepared himself for sure ;).
Great video Cam. Done a couple of trips to France (Alps and Ventoux) this summer and this was definitely the most scenic. I know it is the easy side but definitely worth doing, although that last km does have a nasty kick!
Would September be a good month to replicate this climb?
That footage is insane. Top efforts lads.
I feel bad…. I was sort of mad at you in Mitch's video I watched yesterday because you dropped him… But he made no mention of this challenge 😩