Day 1 (Thursday May 30th): We decided to start driving on Thursday, because we had to make it to the sign in for the Ventoux, which closed on Friday at 1900. We drove about 450km, and spend the night in The Auberge Jean d'Arc in Langres. A quite old hotel, with louzy beds.
Day 2 (Friday May 31st): After a nice breakfast, we drove the last 500kms to our apartments, called "Domaine le Pas Du Ventoux". After unpacking, we went to sign in for the climb the next day. We decided we tried to start at 8.00 in Bédoin. The climbs from Bédoin and Malaucène are considered the toughest, so if we had energy after the first climb, Malaucène would be the second, Sault the third... We went to bed early, to be fit for the big Day. It had been raining all week (also when we arrived), but people were telling Saturday would be slightly better. Fingers crossed.
Day 3: D-Day. I woke up at 6:30, when I could take the following picture, my first sight of the Ventoux.
We took the car to Bédoin, where the Ventoux was already waiting for us.
First climb: We decided to take a steady but not too fast tempo, since we had no idea of what was going to come. The top lies at 22km, with an altitude difference of approx 1600meters. After 7kms, I had a flat tire, which we could change in about 7 minutes. After that, we didn't have any real trouble, the climb was tough, but everything went fine, and we reached the top after a little bit more than 2 hours.
Ruben was quite exhausted and decided not to take the climb from Malaucene next, but descend to Sault, to relax a little bit and try that climb. Dad decided to join him and me and Filip started our downhill to Malaucene.
Second climb: Arriving in Malaucene we took some time to eat some energy bars, bananas, drinks etc. After filling our pockets with some more food for on the road, we started our second climb. Where Bedoin starts with 5km that aren't so though, Malaucene hits you in the face from the start. I decided to keep my heartrate below 170 at all time. This went quite well, and we made it to the top in 1h58, which was very satisfying, as it was one of my goals to do one of the heavy climbs in less than 2 hours.
We ate a small lunch in Chalet Renard, where Ruben and Dad were arriving at about the same time. Ruben decided not to go for the top, but Dad did, where he finished his second climb. After lunch, Ruben and Dad went down to Bédoin, and Filip and me decided to go for the third climb in 12 hours. We started in Sault in a beautiful weather. But when we arrived in Chalet Renard, about 6 km from the top, weather was turning, and we felt some light rain. We decided to continue to the top, which we reached in 1h47. At that point, we couldn't see much further than 10 meters, it was raining heavily, and the wind was terrible. Arriving at the top, we were immediately sent to a garage, and received some warmth-blankets. Cycling down was out of the question, there were busses coming to the top to bring us (and about 60 other cyclists) down.
Our bicycles were brought to Bédoin the next day. We then did a cycling tour around the Gorges the La Nesque, a beautiful nature area. This concluded our short trip which I will not forget soon...
