Well, after having spent a week in Provence to celebrate our 5th anniversary, I am lucky enough to be able to write this report of “La Ventoux,” an organized ride taking in the Giant of Provence (the ride was my wife’s present to me).
We arrived in Vaison-la-Romaine at about 9:00 PM after a very long drive from Frankfurt the night before the ride, which left from Beaumes-de-Venise. After a lovely late dinner, I put the bike together and resolved to get at least 4 hours sleep (our two sons were champs on the drive, btw).
We awoke to gorgeous weather, and I checked in for the ride at about 7:30 AM. I was getting amped watching the 1000+ cyclists get ready and was struck that there were no vests or arm warmers in sight. Either these people were very hearty or it was going to be hot! I spoke to a few folks who assured me it would be warm. I packed a light vest and arm warmers just in case, and chased my oldest son (19 months) around until it was time to line upand handed my wife the bottle of Beaumes-de-Venise (red, not the Muscat dessert wine) that was included in my registration packet!
The herd was restless, and it was a few minutes after the start gun sounded that I was able to cross the start line and trip my computer chip for the official time. We were off through the vineyards of Beaumes-de-Venise, and I rode tempo, taking care through the roundabouts and trying to feel how my legs were after a week off on the first little climb up to Crillon-le-Brave (nothing much in the village except a beautiful resort hotel). I hopped off to fix my cadence magnet and then it was a flat/downhill run into Bedoin from there. After passing a few cafes and being waved through by the marshals, we took that fateful right turn out of the town proper to start the climb, 22.7km and 1622m to the top! Since there were 105 miles and almost 13,000 feet of climbing in all to be done that day, it was important not to overcook it here.
I rode steady until the first hairpin at Saint Esteve, almost 6km into the climb. It is really quite easy until this point, where it then hits 10% and stays there more or less for about 10km until Chalet Reynard. You cannot see the top from this section, but the forest is pretty and it was not nearly as bad as I expected. Most of the faster riders were gone, so I was doing most of the passing here. About 47 minutes later I hit Chalet Reynard and then got to enjoy a slightly flatter 2km (6-7%) before it kicked up to 8-10% for the final 4-5km. All I can say is that there is nothing like seeing that moonscape in person. Unbelievable! The whole of Provence seems to be at your feet, since Ventoux literally dwarfs everything else in the region. We had great luck that it was a clear day with warm temps and no wind. The next several days saw major mistral in the region, so I would not have wanted be anywhere near Ventoux on a bicycle! I hit the top in another 28 minutes or so from Chalet Reynard, which makes about 1:16 for the hard part and 1:33 total.
The descent to Maulacene was very fast and I was somewhat surprised to be passed when I was going over 50 mph! I did not want to overdo it though, and must say that I prefer a more technical descent to one where you bomb a long straight and then hope the next corner you hit isn’t too tight. Anyway, after that it was a matter of riding through gorgeous country over a series of unknown climbs and rollers until hitting Sault for the easy approach to Ventoux at 110km or so. I had run out of water and there was no salt at the last rest stop, so I filled my bottles at a local fountain and bummed some Camembert off one of the volunteers. We did the Sault climb back to Chalet Reynard, and my right foot really was bothering me for some reason (generally not an issue), but I resolved to grit through and not stop and shake it out again and do the climb in one go. I was bonking a bit due to nutritional issues, and people around me were cooked too, since I was only passed by one guy and passed quite a few folks. This only underlined what I knew, i.e. that the fast folks were now long gone! I had hoped to break 7 hours, and a gold medal was 6:46. I saw that this was slipping away, but was happy to be out on such a nice day on this fabled terrain. At Chalet Reynard I was finally able to get a banana or two, fill my bottles and commence on the final 40km. The descent to Bedoin was a blast, and then it was a matter of heading over the few minor cols the organization had devised for the finish. These climbs were sun-baked, but traversed gorgeous back country and included fun technical descents. I lost my glasses on one such descent as I hit a bump and they flew out of my back pocket, so I spent a few minutes looking and then took off without finding them. I got a rush as I saw the 5km to go banner and punched it (for me, anyway). I made the final turn (thanks again to the great marshals giving us a red carpet ride), and I hit the line as I heard my wife give out a loud holler. All told the 170km took 6:59, which was good for a silver medal and a well-deserved meal. After that it was relaxation all week with a few bacchanalic excesses thrown in for good measure.
BTW, I got one more chance to hit Ventoux that week when the Dauphine came through (I was climbing as the sun rose since we were moving on to a new locale), and managed to just break 1:30, so I fee I paced myself pretty well on the day of the ride. The second ascent reinforced the fact that this climb is indeed a beast, even in the good weather. It is certainly the most impressive climb I have ever done. The difficulty stems from the unrelenting nature of the climb once you hit that first virage, though the max gradient is 12% so the steepness is not that bad . Finally, being a bit hungover doesn’t help matters any, so try to avoid that if at all possible … All in all an experience to remember. Sportcommunication (the organizers of Ventoux, Marmotte, and a host of others) do a great job and you can some photos of the ride at
http://www.photo2roues.com. Click on “La Ventoux – Beaumes de Venise.” Unflattering pics of me are under number 618!