Epic Numero Uno

Ride Day one – Sunday 23 October 2011
Conditions – Sunny with patchy clouds, 13 degrees at sea level
Distance – 85 miles
Ride time – 5.10 hrs.
TSS – 305
Total Ascent – 2600 meters
Rise and Shine
Today saw a late rise for me, especially when a long ride is planned. Well I suppose 9am isn't too late but there was no way that I was going to set my alarm after the knackering day of doing nothing yesterday and it was so nice to sleep in a comfortable bed and get a good solid kip. Opening the French shutter revealed a pleasant looking day; calm, bright and a light covering of cloud in the sky, basically perfect cycling conditions. After a quick toilet stop we headed down stairs to feast on a breakfast of muesli with chopped banana and a chunk of fresh baguette with the cyclist favourite smothered all over it; Nutella!!! Mikey decided he would just have a mammoth bowl of muesli which he soon regretted as he has to force it down with a slightly sick looking expression on his face. Bless him.

With our pockets crammed full of food, oversized Ortlieb saddled bag stuffed full of extra cloths and extra food we were pretty much set to go. I didn't really have any idea of our initial direction but I had a basic game plan for the ride. Firstly we would get in 2 hours or so and head in the direction of the place that we stayed for the last couple of years which is the village of Seguret. This village has been classed as one of France's most beautiful villages and built in to a hill side which back on the to the vast forest of the Dentaeles. We would then loop back round and headed towards Bedoin in order to start the most used and most recognised ascent of Mont Ventoux. Depending on how we felt when we reached the summit we would either descent back in to Sault and take the longer way back home or we would head back in to Bedoin and take the shorter way home. Whatever we did we wanted to get a good solid 5 hrs in and take in the climb.

As we set of it was a bit chilly but the sun was soon pocking nose out and we could feel the warmth on our backs. The first initial miles brought back floods of memories from holidays gone by, some of amazing rides and some of terrible bonks but all in all it was like coming back home to where I belong. It's funny because the first thing you realise when you ride in this part of the world ids how slow it all feels, the roads just seem to grab hold of your tyres and it can feel like riding in syrup. Also, there seems to be a head wind all of the time, I know we say this most of the time but in France it really does feel like it and no matter which way you turn the wind is always pounding your cheeks and never seems to be pounding your other cheeks, if you know what I mean!

We headed out toward Carpentras and had our first reminder that we must look to the left when we enter roundabouts, the sound of an angry horn made us remember for the rest of the ride as the next 5 hours went off without a hitch. I was improvising the route as we went along which is good fun as you can't really get to lost because you simply use Ventoux as a homing beacon in order to find out where you are. We made our way northwards towards Vaison la Romaine, the medieval town which to distinct districts; one side of the river is the new town which hosts a grand market on various day and the other side is the old town which is built in to the hill side and is still home to many residents and businesses. From here it was a couple of kilometres till we reached the Seguret which again brought back more memories, we made our way up to the house where I preceded to hug the side of the building, rummage round the back to view the garden and then get going again.

Onwards and soon upwards
It was at this point where I programmed Bedoin in to the Garmin and headed toward to legendary climb. As we pedalled there was a slight feeling of trepidation in the air from both of us. For Mikey it was due to feeling of uncertainty as this would be the first time he has ever done anything like this and it has been made all the harder as we have done 3 hours before we have even reached the foot of the climb. For me it was because I knew what was coming having done the climb about 30 times before and I had no idea how I would fare as I have never done it after 3hrs either. It wasn't long before we were pedalling through Bedoin and turning right on to the D974 which marks the start of the climb. After a quick picture next to the Mt Ventoux sign we began our ascent of this epic lump in the ground. If you have ever done Ventoux you will know how easy the first few kilometres are which simple lull you in to false sense of security before the road really kicks up and once it does, it doesn't let up again for the next 18kms.

It all went quiet and soon the only sounds that could be heard were those of shifting gears and deep breathing. It was very strange doing the climb in October compared to August as there was barely another soul on the road apart from us, typically I would pass about 100 other cyclists on my way to the summit but today I passed 1, just 1, no because I was hideously slow but because there was no one else stupid enough to do this climb in late October when its shrouded in mist! WE were about 45 minute in to the climb when I turned to mike and asked him how he was feeling, the reply didn't sound too good, "I feel like shit and I think I'm going to pass out"!! Not how you want to be feeling when you still have 11km of 9% to go. I told mike that Chalet Reynard was not too far away and that he should stop if he needed and I would carry on but descend back to him once I had reached the restaurant. This is what we did, Mike had a breather whilst I chugged on and with every pedal stroke I noticed it was getting colder with every meter of vertical ascent that ticked off. When I did reach Chalet Reynard I decided that I would just keep going as I knew that if I started descending now I would just freeze and wouldn't be able to get warm enough to start climbing again.
Its only 6km from Reynard to the summit, just a measly 6km! Trust me, this can be the hardest 6km you will ever do and with over 4 hours on the clock it was indeed pretty tough. Not as hard as I have found it but no exactly comfortable and as it was now getting toward zero degrees, even my effort climbing couldn't keep me warm.

As I rounded the last bend which is hideously steep I barely managed to rise out of the saddle due to the cold and as soon as I crossed the finish line in a pretty casual time of 90 minutes, my best being 75, I quickly stopped, grabbed my new Gore Tex coat out of my handy saddle bag and slung it on before starting the descent. I had decided that when I saw mike I would tell him that the top was a long way off and it was freezing so we should just head back home and he can try again another day. However, to my surprise I only managed about 3km of descent before I spotted mike standing at the side of the road. I was amazed that he had managed to get so far and that he was so near the top, there was no way that he would stop now so we would carry on to the top and let him conquer this beast. He informed me that he had about 2 minutes rest when I let him at which point his anger pushed him onwards and he set out to chase me down. He had one or few stops on the way up but had still made amazing progress. We had one last little stop before the straight where I told him to put on his coat in preparation for the summit and ploughed onwards. Upon reaching the top we had a manly hug and then quickly realised just how freezing it was so we got the fuck out of there and started our descent.

We decided that as we had almost 5 hrs on the clock we would head the direct way home by descending straight back down towards Bedoin. I think it's fair to say that although we thought we were prepared we really weren't. It was absolutely freezing and soon it was my turn to start feeling dizzy. The cold was almost unbearable, my hands were beginning to fail and I could barely feel my legs. It just seemed to go on forever and no matter how far we descended back towards sea level, the air just never seemed to get any warmer. We finally hit the bottom of the main climb and I pulled over to see how mike was, he pulled alongside me with a ghostly look on his face which was also very blue. He was worse than me so I gave him a manly rub for a few minutes in order to get some warmth back in to his torso which seemed to do the trick. We too the signs for the village and headed for home, it was so hard to try and pedal as the cold had all but killed my legs and I could hardly turn them. It was a nice feeling when we rolled in to the village and finally began to feel a bit warmer. We stopped off at the local drinking hole for a quick cappuccino to get some real heat back in to our system and drink to a job well done.
So with day one out of the way and some experience gained ready for the next day, we headed back to the house where we walked in to the glorious smell of beef casserole cooking in the oven, a well-earned one at that.