I love road riding. I’d lamented not finding many good road biking videos till I discovered the Col Collective. They have a pretty extensive library of videos of famous mountains (cols) from around the cycling world. Beautifully shot, most of their videos are climbs but a few are descents. This col, Passo Gavia, in the Italian Alps is probably best known as one of the Giro’s toughest climbs, but it’s equally daunting and breathtaking going down if this point-of-view video is any indication.
The scenery, when you can tear your attention away from the onrushing tarmac, is astounding. This video is long—it’s basically a real-time descent. In that sense, it may be just for the fans. If you find yourself less of a fan after the first five minutes of heart-stopping downhill, go ahead and skip the middle and jump to the last few minutes which are fun and very fast and end in the lovely village of Ponte di Legno. I enjoyed the entire ride. It didn’t hurt that I really like the music they chose. I got the thrill of a screaming decent—with otherwise strictly-verboten headphones—and none of the risk.
I’d recommend any of the Col Collective’s videos. I find them far more engaging than the standard techno-weenie road bike video—but they satisfy on that count as well, with stats listed for every col they visit. Here’s the stats on the Passo Gavia:
Length: 17.3km
Summit: 2,621m
Valley: 1,258m
Elevation drop: 1,363m
Max gradient: 16%
