VENTOUX !! A cyclists challenge!!

Giles

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House rules to start with :D

Bicycles have two wheels too. It's an adventure, its a challenge, and it's a 'ride report' !

All pictures are taken on an I phone so you can wind yer necks in now on dodgy photography.

All bicycles in this thread are powered by carbohydrates, some fat, some sugar and oxygen.

Bear and Nofuck Tiger (aka mechanical dopers) ..... watch and learn boys .... watch and learn .....




Lets begin. There are a number of bucket list climbs that cyclists look to for a challenge. Last year for me, it was Alp D'Huez and Galibier.


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This year ... it's Ventoux..... with a 'but' ..

The 'but' is that there is a specific challenge of climbing Ventoux form all three towns at the bottom, so in effect, we're going to climb it three times, descending to a different town each time, apart from the last descent which will be back to base. Before the challenge, you send off for a sort of time card that gets stamped by the cafe shops at the three different bases on the day to evidence your presence. (and it's stamped at the top). Three ascents, three climbs, four stamps in the book. (send the book off afterwards for a medal !).

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Four months out, and some serious training starts!


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The turbo trainer is great when yer time pressed or it's pissing down outside. Otherwise, as the weather improves and the days get longer, it's out on the bike when I get in from work.

The name of the game for this challenge is endurance and strength, so the bulk of the training will concentrate on Threshold power and endurance.

So a typical session might look something like this; a 2 x 20 effort

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or maybe this .. Hill repeats at a low cadence..

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Interspersed with the low cadence strength stuff, and the Threshold stuff, will of course be long days of endurance on days off from work.

Power metres!

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Power metres are a relatively new bit of tech in cycling. And they're brilliant for both training and executing the day. Imagine going to a gym where all the weights looked the same - same size, same shape and there were no numbers on them. You bench press. What did you do ? You don't know, but it felt alright. You go back next week .. What did you do last week? Are you going to put the same weight on this week? It feels about the same but is it? How can you measure your progress?

Any gym monkey that is in to his training will keep a diary. He'll know his bench press numbers, he'll know last week he pressed 9, 9, 8, 8 at 85 KG's and that next week he really wants to get 9, 9, 9, 9 before putting the least amount of weight possible on the bar and now aiming for say 8, 8, 8, 8 at a new weight of 87.5kgs. And so he slowly improves with the help of a diary and numbers.


Cycling can now do that too, through power metres. If you know you can just sustain 250watts for an hour, then setting off at 300watts to climb Alp D'Huez (which will take about an hour) will see you blow up before you get to the top. So it's a great governor.
It's also great for training. Like the gym, you can play numbers and keep pushing those twenty minute efforts, or those 5 min on, 2 min off intervals. Each time you train, you can nibble away at those targets rather than shooting in the dark.

The training winds up, we're doing about 130 miles a week of very structured efforts from recovery rides, to jelly leg hill reps.

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Our trip finally arrives, I manage to tear a tyre 24 hours before we're due to leave in my last easy spin and have to rush to the bike shop 24 hours before we due to leave to get new tyres and fit them. These are tubeless, with sealant inside and the whole process of setting them up is a bit fiddly. (air compressors to pop them on their bead etc). After a mild moment of panic, they fit, they're holding air and I can breathe again!

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Rosy cooks a batch of sausages the night before and it's up at 0300 to meet the guys and head for the tunnel.

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Sausage sarnies on the 0520 train go down well!

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We drive for about ten hours. Ventoux is about an hour from Marseille.

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In the Tour, when they do Ventoux, you'll often hear the commentators talk about the mental stress, if you like, that ventoux has on the riders. Its an odd one because it's not part of the alps - it seems to come straight out the ground with nothing else around it.
We get our first sight of it - it is indeed very intimidating and the thought of climbing that fucker three times is pretty daunting!

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Our diggs are lovely. Run by a very cool, bo-ho Californian lady who would have definitely been at Woodstock in the 1969!

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We walk into the village of Bedoin, and eat pasta. The village is charming, Belgium are playing their world cup game and cheers erupt from the bars. It's a great atmosphere.

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We get to bed at about 11.00. It's hot, muggy, the air con is noisy and with what feels like no sleep at all the alarm goes off at 0400.

We all take a dump, and eat porridge and bananas, and drink strong coffee. I neck about two litres of water and pack my jersey with energy bars, gells and electrolyte tablets for when i refills my bottles.

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As the sun struggles to rise we get our bikes out the garage and head into Bedoin to the start.

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Thankfully, a cafe owner is up early and is sluicing down the pavement outside his gaff. We ask him if he would mind stamping our challenge passports, and he very happily obliges.

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And we're off! The benefit of the power metre kicks in straight away, I limit the pace to about 200watts to see us through the day and we now face about two hours of climbing for the first ascent.

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Eventually we break into sun. Whilst it feels good on your back now, the forecast is for about 32 degrees! It's going to be a hot one!


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Two hours and seventeen minutes later, and keeping a lid on watts and pace we get to the top.

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We descend to the village of Malaucene in 23 minutes for coffee and to refill water bottles, and do it all over again!

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Its getting hotter and the next climb is another long hard one. At an average of 189 watts it takes 3 hours and ten minutes. But feeling good!!

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We decent again, this time to the village of Sault. It takes 32 minutes of virtual free wheeling and speeds of 40+ mph.

After a light lunch and drinks of full fat coke and new water bottles and electrolyte tabs, we set off for the last climb. It's now about 32 degrees in the full afternoon sun.

Its tough! One of the lads, throws up 500 metres from the top.

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Too many gels which can play havoc with you stomach. We finally get there after 2 hours and 22 minutes of climbing.

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After a quick souvenir from the shop at the top we boot it down for a cold beer.


Now .... before I get slated for posting a shit you tube clip! It's as boring as watching paint dry. But ... 'Strava' has segments on it. I am proud to tell you that at 52 (yes i know its down hill!) I managed to get 395 out of 45,188 people (all time) on a segment on the descent!

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The vid is boring, but at 8.30 we get a god lick on at 50mph :D

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We hit the bar for a pint before heading back to shower and return to eat till we're bursting.

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Final stats ....

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And that my friends ... is a wrap ... :beerjug:

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Nice one, if different.

Would like to meet your very cool, bo-ho Californian lady landlady.
 
Fair play to you... :clap :clap :clap
 
I’d known you were doing Ventoux but hadn’t realised you were stupid enough to do it 3 times, bloody hell!

Wouldn’t it have been easier to take the KTM?

Andres

PS Well done!
 
The internal combustion engine was invented to avoid the need to piss about on peddly bikes, you know. :D

Well done fellas. :thumb

I've ridden Ventoux on an XT600, a GL1100 and an XLH1000.
If there's ever another time, it still won't be pedal powered. :D
 
Great ride report Giles and a real result from pounding the turbo through winter. It takes some cahunas to decend at those speeds so again well done.

Now if only you would have had an ebike and 3 spare batteries, no need for gels and you and your mates could have eaten sausages every day since Jan 18 plus no need to train! Simples

Steve
 
Brilliant achievement, really well done.

I know that the strong winds that give the mountain its name are often a real issue in that challenge, how was it on your day?
 
Top effort and interesting reading Giles. The technology does help by assisting you to know what you can sustain.
I only have a heart rate monitor to go off and find that invaluable. Me and the Mrs. rode in the Pyrenees early June
as a celebration for my 70th. We climbed a few colls including the Col Du Port (which i realise isn't on a parr with what you did) and having never done so much cycling was dead chuffed that after one and a half hours and 17km. of climbing reached the top; the decent was mega.
I'd definitely need to put more effort into the training to even attempt what you accomplished.
Congrats to you and your mates.
 
Nice one Giles, I’m pleased for you mate.:thumb

Just a bit jealous that I’m nowhere near sorted with my back to be able to get out on a real push bike yet.
 
congratulations

not all tossers are size 60 plus again well done fellas only ever done the mountain on my gs and the last bit to the top is super steep:clap
 
This climb will always be something special to British cyclists of my age. During the 1967 Tour de France Tom Simpson lost his life near the summit.

Tom was a hero to me. That did get tarnished when the PM results showed use of artificial stimulants was a contributory factor in his death.

Congratulations on your effort, not just on the day itself but on the dedication shown in the preparation.
 
..Would like to meet your very cool, bo-ho Californian lady landlady.

Ha ha ... Remember the famous picture of Diana in that see through skirt? Our lady ('Amy') met us in something similar. 'Follow me' she said as she led us to the apartment. Bloody hell ..... for a woman in her 60's at a guess she was stunning .... :D



Welcome to the Cingles Club Giles :beerjug:

May I suggest that for your next challenge you try ..

We were going to do the Marmot (it was the same weekend - bikes every where at the tunnel) but couldn't get any accommodation so opted to do our own thing.
I can't help thinking that some of the big sportives are a bit of a rip off. Paying for closed roads I get, but other than that benefit, I'd rather do the challenge on my own i think (like with a group of friends).

but your still gay coz you've got a power meter and disc brakes :rolleyes: :D

Power meter invaluable for pacing. Last year I trounced my mates up D'Huez by about 15 mins. They all set off like whippets (adrenalin, excitement) and I remember looking at the numbers and thinking ... there is no way I can sustain that for an hour so I'm backing right off and i'll leave them to it. 40 mins later they were seriously suffering and I sail by telling them Ill meet them at the top! Thats not cocky 'better then you' fitness, it's just better pacing and strategy. They're brilliant, but still a lot of money.
There's not much in it between disc and rim in the dry, but on a wet road the discs are light years ahead of rims. Give excellent modulation and feel too ...

... a real result from pounding the turbo through winter...

Another really good investment! I'd argue that winter on the turbo has done more for my fitness than the summer! Also really good for technical stuff like Wrefords unconscious competent peddling technique and slowly adapting your body to get lower and lower. I struggled to cycle with my forearms resting on the tops for more than ten minutes, (feels weird on your diaphragm and recruits ever so slightly different muscles in your hip flexors) but chipped away at that all winter on the turbo just stretching how long it felt comfortable for and can now cycle all day in that very aero position.

..I know that the strong winds that give the mountain its name are often a real issue in that challenge, how was it on your day?

Yeah nice and calm! Last year they lowered the finish line of the TDF because of the winds! We were very conscious that the weather could have been shite and we were really lucky!

.. The technology does help by assisting you to know what you can sustain.

Yeah ... great for pacing. We sat at 200 W on all three climbs and that seemed to work pretty well.

.. During the 1967 Tour de France Tom Simpson lost his life near the summit..

We were going to stop at his memorial and take a pic but we were in the groove and didn't want to stop! Its only a kilometre or so from the top .. :thumb2
 
I flew over Ventoux in my microlight, that was impressive, and knackering enough. Respect, Mr G.


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Ha .... I think that takes more balls! You wouldn’t catch me doing that !!


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