Three’s a Crowd……And Lots of Fun

Ride Day 4 – Ride through Gorge de Nesque to Sault

Distance – 70 miles

Conditions – Glorious sunshine, no wind and hot

Yesterday I ended up doing a ride on my own as the weather wasn't too good, Mike was having a rest after a long day yesterday and we swapped the days around slightly to sink with the weather forecast. I didn't really have a plan as such so I simply whipped out the map and pointed to a village somewhere that looked like would make for a descent ride out, the village that I found was Grignan and somewhere out to the north. I set out in full wet gear as I saw it was spitting and the skies looked threatening but as it was, after 3 miles in to the ride I had to pull over to remove most of my kit as the weather had made a sharp turn or the better and this carried on or the rest of the ride.

All the way to Grignan I was treated to a glorious tailwind which made for a consistent ride but was then faced with a stiff headwind all the way back. To cut a long story short, the ride was a lot further than I thought, the headwind made it take longer than I had estimated and in the last 9km I could barely turn the pedals anymore. A lack of food and constant grovelling saw me bonk like I have never bonked before and I literally had to roil the last 5km before arriving at the front door. Not a nice experience but I have only myself to blame.

A New Day

There is only one thing that makes cycling more enjoyable than cycling alone and that's cycling with friends, family or both at the same time. This is what we did on Wednesday which would be my 4^th day if riding and the mid-way point through the holiday, we woke to clear skis and headed out on the bikes with spring kit on in order to keep the early morning chill at bay. The rout e we had planned would be a spectacular one and would see us ride out along the renowned Gorges de Nesque which links Villes Sur Auzon to Sault via 28km of asphalt draped heaven with views to match.

We were extremely lucky with our location as the road starts literally out of our village and climb's at a stead 3-4% for almost 20km, passes through tunnels cut in to the mountain side and swoops rounds many edgeless hair pins with sheer drops to the side. Amazing.

For the 90 minutes that it took to ride along this road we never saw another sole except for one of two opportunists taking snaps of the rock formations that sat across the gorge. We soon began our descent in to the market town of Sault which is where the 3^rd and easiest ascent of Mt Ventoux begins. The climb from side is the longest of all 3 at 26km but most of it is at a comfortable gradient of 5% or less, it's only when the climb meets up with the road from Bedoin at Chalet Reynard that it kicks up as it used the same last 6km as the most well-known ascent which the tour uses. As we began the climb I decided to ride at my own pace up until Reynard, once I reached the Restaurant I descended back to meet Dad and Mike and ride back to it with them.

It is at this point where we began our assault on the last 6km; I took a picture off of the first corner and mike pushed on with a spring in his step. I saw this as an opportunity to push the legs a little and I set off in hot pursuit. As it turns out, Mike, who was fresh from a day of rest and fully fuelled on heaps of pasta, was setting a furious pace and I took me what felt like an age to catch up with him. When I did I sat on his wheel just trying to hold the pace of this man possessed, we finished the climb side by side and was treated to spectacular views across the plain of Provence, with the Alps to the north and the coast to the south, these views have to be seen to be believed and seem all the better after you have pedalled your way to the top.

After a short break taking in the views and waiting for the old man, who did a great ride up the climb, we togged ourselves up in our extra layers and began our descent down the north side which would take us in to the town of Malucene.

We knew that the descent would be cold but god, not this cold. It was like being hit in the face with a frozen sledge hammer and I had to adopt the system of descending one handed in order to use my spare hand as a face shield to stop it freezing. After reaching the bottom safely we made our way back homewards via the Col de Madalene, no not that one but a smaller version which links Malucene and Bedoin and is a piece of road that has become well known by me and my dad as we had to ride it every time we wanted to ride the mountain when we were staying in the other village in years gone by.

Soon we were on the home stretch and had 9km to go when dad began to feel the effects of a hard ride in his legs, it is at this point where me and mike hit the front and tried to shelter him whilst keeping the pace up in order to get him home. Well, this is how the plan started out but soon it began to turn in to a 2 up team trial as me and mike drilled the front and I took the chance to practise my Fabian Cancellara style invisible aero bar position. Dad hung on for as long as possible and enjoying the pain, he dropped off the train with about 1km to go but we all rolled to house together which completed what was a stunning and memorable ride for us all.