The Windy Mountain 11th September

I had originally toyed with the idea of joining the Club des Cingles and ride Mont Ventoux by all three sides in one day. But I've ridden enough cols in the last three and a bit weeks and my hotel has a pool and lovely garden.

So only rode the one ascent via Bedoin which is claimed to be the hardest side. The ride around Mont Ventoux from Buis Les Baronnies to the start at Bedoin was an enjoyable roll past vineyards, olive trees and typical Provence architecture. From Malaucene to Bedoin the road wove through dry forest and the ever present glimpses of Mont Ventoux at various points.

Road to Malaucene

Road between Malaucene and Bedoin

Perhaps due to its overbearing presence, the friendly waves and bonjours from cyclists out on the roads in the Alps have been traded for stern faces and strange looks when I offered a friendly bonjour and a wave.

The timing mark for the 22.7km Bedoin ascent is right on the edge of town, so it’s game on as soon as I’ve rolled through. The initial kilometres are very tame only ramping up to 5.9% by the 6^th kilometre. From here to kilometre 17 is the business with the easiest kilometre in this stretch 8.6%, quite a few in the 9-10% and one km at 10.8%. And unlike Alpe d’Huez with its hairpins offering brief respite, here the road barely turns so a constant effort was required.

Throughout the climb I was constantly passing cyclists. They all had their head down and in their own world of pain and some glanced across at me passing. A few realizing that I was riding and not just surviving offered some encouragement with an Allez or two, most though just dropped their heads a retreated back into their own thoughts..

Steeper section

I keep riding a solid tempo and surprised myself when Chalet Reynard appeared earlier than I expected. This was a good thing as the Chalet also marks the end of the steepest section and start of the easier section to the summit.

Here though is where the exposed lunar section starts and with the literal translation for Mont Ventoux being windy mountain I wasn’t disappointed. But although windy it was coming from the south so was never into my face.

Home stretch

The 50m-high telecommunications mast on the summit clearly marked my destination and it felt like it took forever to finally make the steep right hand bend to the finish by the tower amongst the crowds and stopped the clock at 1:28:26. I’d  upped my effort in these kilometres given I was closing in, so on summiting I rolled to the side of the car park and promptly spent the next ten minutes dry retching; the joys of a hard effort.

Summit tower

Given it is a Sunday, the summit is swarming! With the strong wind I quickly started to get a chill so started the descent as soon as I was able. I’d decided to go down the Malaucene to check it out for next time and as it would be a shorter return home

It’s a very fast descent in places and I clocked over 90km/hr along one stretch, before more hairpins meant a more sensible speed down to Malaucene and the last kilometres back to the hotel and pool.

After relaxing I walked through the lovely old city of Buis Les Baronnies a couple of times before I settled on a small restaurant where I enjoyed had Tagliatelle with Salmon and followed with a petit espresso.

Small village Mollans-sur-Ouvèze on the return to Buis Les Baronnies

Ride details:

Distance 99.32km

2310m elevation