Monday 30th May: Bonjour. This stage was one I was really looking forward to...and dreading at the same time. After yesterdays 196 km's in the sun and heat I was wondering how would I pull up this morning when we had 150 kms to do including the famous Mont Ventoux climb up to some 1912 metres at an average of some 7.5%. Mont Ventoux is a classic climb - seen in the Tour de France a lot and the scene of many superb battles as such. In addition the nature of Ventoux in terms of its shape and roads means it is a revered climb for cyclists from around the world. It also was the scene so tragically back in 1967 where British Pro cyclist, Tom Simpson collapsed and died near the summit during LeTour. That's me sitting just near the memorial site to Tom that is a must stop, must see and must get one's photo taken at it for any keen cyclist climbing and conquering Ventoux. We started at 8.45am in Orange and had some 30 kms' of mainly flat riding at a steady tempo before getting to the foot of the climb. The weather again today was superb (gee we have been so lucky...) as you can see in the pics above. The climb of Ventoux is 21 km's long and as I said above is at 7.5% average- some parts steeper and some a little easier. It is by no means an easy climb for any cyclist in any fitness level. So with still some 90 km's to do after getting to the summit - it was a day to be careful on Ventoux. It is a brut and can bite you big time if you go about the climb to quickly or the wrong way. I can report that I had a good day going up it and after some nearly 2 hours of climbing - I reached the summit. Yay! Nailed it! It was not too windy but quite cold at that altitude and due to the exposed nature of the climb and summit. I quickly put on my arm warmers, jacket and like everyone else jumped into the summit cafe for a coke and coffee. We climbed one side and descended the other side and so stopped at the Tom Simpson memorial then dropped down to the town of Sault for a light lunch. We then had a couple of small climbs but mostly downhill on the balance of the distance down to our overnight stop here in Sisteron. A very old town nestled amongst some steep cliffs/hills with a pretty town centre. Its 10pm now and I am yawning...so its time to turn off the laptop. Remember you can double click on the above images to see them bigger on your screen. Bonsoir everyone !
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