The Giant of Provence
Posted by Ben on | November 14, 2006
We leave from Bedoin, a charming little town at the foot of Mt Venoux. It’s a beautiful autumn day with the temperature in the low 30s.
Our route is one of the most famous climbs of the Tour de France and is regarded as one of the hardest. The 22km climb is rated at 7.6% but the first 3 three kilometres are flat-ish so most of the riding is in excess of 9-10%. There are signs every few hundred metres in case you forget… but you don’t forget.
Mt Ventoux is relentless. Richard is riding like a robot and I try to keep pace but it is futile. At one stage I am suffering so much I get off to check my bike because the road feels unnaturally heavy. Its a desperate move. The sweat stings my eyes and the flies have a field day. I’m having the time of my life. No seriously.
In around 1.38.00 we reach the summit. Other cyclists are there to greet us. We nod to each other. There is a man selling fudge and candy and unfortunately there are many motorists. Motorists should not be here.
For around an hour we bask in the sun and stare off into the distance. Kinda like they do in Brokeback Mountain. We then begin our decent and briefly our speedometres display 82kph. That was stupid.
We return to our hotel, nestled amongst rolling hills and vineyards. Our hosts have a beer waiting.
I then hear about a man who climbed Mt Ventoux with his 12-year-old son. They probably weren’t the fastest but they made it.
That is why I love riding my bike.
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4 Responses to “The Giant of Provence”
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April 5th, 2007 @ 6:53 pm
Excuse, and what you think concerning forthcoming elections?
April 9th, 2007 @ 8:41 pm
cool blog!
April 16th, 2007 @ 5:08 pm
cool blog!
April 18th, 2007 @ 6:04 pm
nice photos of this blog