The morning dawned warm and hazy across the vineyards of Cairanne with the promise of 30+ degrees later in the day. Fully loaded with a dubious looking assortment of powder in little bags and a couple of the obligatory 'Grany' bars, I set off, with not an insignificant amount of trepidation!
Le Mistral had been blowing on and off for the past few days, and today was no exception as I struggled to maintain 15mph on the fairly flat approach roads through the villages of Rasteau, Roaix and Vaison La Romaine. I very nearly pulled over to do that thing when you spin your back wheel to make sure your brake's not rubbing!
On the approach to Malucene the quantity of cyclists steadily increased, as did the general gradient and the menacing mass of the 'Giant of Provence' which began to dominate the skyline above. My intention had been to head to Bedoin and climb from there. However, in Malaucene I saw a sign to 'Le Mont Ventoux' and 'Bedoin' so I merrily joined the hundreds of others and started to steadily pump my way up the gradient, trying to find a rhythm I could sustain for the next 23k or so. It eventually occurred to me that the signpost to 'Bedoin' was actually the way you would go to Bedoin if you wanted to get there by going over the bloody mountain first! WTF!!!! By now I was committed, having already ridden about 7k of the climb so I decided to settle in and explore this previously unknown aspect of Ventoux, a bit like orbiting the dark side of the moon, I mused.
Now I'm reliably informed by everyone who has done it that the climb from Bedoin is harder, however the number and frequency of 12%, 11.5% and 10%+ markers all along the middle section of the climb did little to convince me of this! Would I actually make it? I thought. As I ticked off the upper km markers however, renewed confidence (or something, thanks Pharmacist Coppi) gave my tired legs a much needed boost, and before I could say 'no way', the summit observatory appeared startlingly close right above me. I stopped for a quick pit stop to gird my loins for the final push and got chatting to a nice Dutch bloke who told me that he and 700 other Dutch and Belgians cyclists were riding Ventoux that day to raise money for cancer research - Chapeau!! And there was me thinking it was always this busy!
The summit was soon won and after a couple of pics I settled in for 'Omlette et frites avec Coca et grand cafe au lait sil vous plait' before starting my descent to Bedoin. After a couple of miles I stopped for a moment to pay the respects of the Crapiwheelers to Tom Simpson and then soon found myself amongst pine trees where I encountered the first punc**** of the day, bugger! Bedoin came and went in a blink of the eye as I made my way over the Col De La Madelaine (no not THAT one) back to Malaucene. This col is only about 470 metres but with Ventoux in my legs it felt like a bloody 1st cat, and the views back over Ventoux from the little col were stunning.
The journey back to Cairanne was thankfully a much quicker affair, rolling along quite nicely between 22 and 28mph on the flat with Le Mistral at my side. All in all this was a pretty big day out for a solo ride, my only regret is that I didn't have the rest of the Crapis along with me to share the experience (and the work).
Find more Bike Ride in Saint-LÉGer-Du-Ventoux, France
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