After our fantastic trip to the Cantal arranged by Abdu, feeling vaguely oxygenated I headed 260 miles South East to Vaucluse and the mighty Mt Ventoux.
You can see Ventoux from several miles away on the approach, dominating the beautiful wine growing area and dwarfing the nearby Dentelles. I’ve driven up the mountain a few times and walked it twice, the last time being in 2013 on Bastille Day to watch Froome beat Quintana to the stage finish on the summit.
Anyway, enough of those amateurs…… I’d got some great advice from Abdu and decided on a 0530 start as the temperature was forecast to be 37 degrees!
I had the support of Tiptree Velos Director Sportif in the team car and he dropped me in Bedoin at 0600hrs.
It’s a 21km climb to 1912m, the first section open roads, second second being steep through the trees and the third 6 km section on the exposed lunar landscape leading to the summit.
I was over taken by a couple of racing snakes (made Ray look overweight), but actual ride time to the summit was 2 hrs 21 mins. I had stopped a few times, twice for cramp and then to change water bottles from the team car (no sticky bottles) The final corner is 11%, but it’s amazing how you can get up out of the saddle and go for it when you can see the summit.
Many thanks to Abdu and Mike Fry for their amazing advice (they done it three times in one day!!!!), Mark G, Has, Dave, Helena & Steve for the training the week before, Monique for the thoughtful breakfast (before) & best shower ever (after) and most especially my DS, CS
Trix MM