Legends are central to any culture, ours perhaps more than most. The Ventoux is a French legend, rising 1912m above the rolling hills of Provence. The road is thick with the paint of Tours past and the names of giants. The grade is 7%, on average, though 10, 11, and 12% are routine throughout the middle section. The classical route begins in a small town, winds through the forest, and ends amidst the moon-like rocks of the summit.
My ride up the Ventoux was not pre-mediated, unless you count my wife’s comment as we boarded the plane “You know, we’ll be pretty close to the Ventoux,” she mused. The only cycling-specific thing I brought with me was my trusty Castelli wool cap. But once we arrived in Provence, the mountain stared at me. Riding it was the obvious choice.
It could have been a Mastercard advertisement. Bike shorts: 22 Euro. Bike rental: 25 Euro. Impromptu ride up the Ventoux in October: Priceless. Except the local bike shop only took cash. The LBS did have Hervé, who was more than happy to set me up and point me in the right direction. As I left the shop, he asked if I had everything I needed. “Vous avez d’EPO?” he asked. Before I could formulate a response, he explained that he always rides with EPO: Energie (energy), Pastis (French liquor), and Ouefs (French for eggs, which is slang for balls). “Oui, j’ai d’EPO”.
Many rRules were broken, perhaps more than the number of kilometers ridden. I did not look pro; I looked like the tourist that I am. I had a screw-top water bottle from the gas station and street shoes in toe clips with the straps cinched down hard enough to leave a mark on each foot that is still there 24 hours later. I did manage to pass a few guys in full kits and carbon frames. And then, I got passed in the last km by a 22-year-old kid in a local team kit, with no helmet and a fanny pack. The French, apparently, have their own rules.
Rules! Hear me fools: The Rules mark the beginning of the path to enlightenment, not the end. There are higher planes, expanding dimensions. Beyond the color of your bar tape exists a man, a mountain, and a bike. This is where the world begins.
Legends are things that lodge in memory, things that are unique enough to pause space and time. The best legends are those that transcend.
To ride a legend is to find that place, to connect the mystic with the real. Le Mont Ventoux, c’est une légende superieure.
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Thanks for this Jim Top job on a rental, clearly a shed load of ouefs in you! Now I'm feeling even more impatient. I'm booked up for a week in the Alps next June with tour company More Than 21 Bends. On the Wednesday which is to be our free day without a local guide, I've already scoped how to get me and my buddy from Bourg D'Oisans down to Malaucene to fit in an anticlockwise loop through Bedoin, up and over Ventoux. With the driving south then back north again it won't be a big biking distance day but Le Mont Ventoux ensures that it will still be an epic.
Alpe D'Huez, Cols - Galibier, Glandon, la Croix De Fer, Telegraph and others plus adding Ventoux. A weeks riding does not get much better than that.
hi, i'm new here, with posting anyway. enjoyed reading a lot though
is that a bianchi ml3 on the pic? that's been my #1 for 10 happy years :-)
''Beyond the color of your bar tape exists a man, a mountain, and a bike. This is where the world begins.'
This is a good Sentence, I like this Sentence.
Nice one Jim, I really enjoyed your post. Climbed my first col this year on holiday in Mallorca with the family. Only slightly better prepared than you, I took shoes and bibs and hoped that 'er indoors and the saucepan lids would be understanding of my need for a day off while on holiday, which they were. I was surprised how much more mind than matter climbing a mountain requires. I was constantly telling myself I needed to stop, but somewhere something else kept driving me on, the V perhaps, or maybe my favourite rule is starting to take effect. HTFU!!
@Chris
@936adl
Of course, this also might be the best paragraph I read all month, too.
Pure awesomeness and the EPO section nearly made me spit my tea out! Chapeau!
@Chris
How about a Ventoux Cogal in the spring?
First post after reading for a few years (have always had issues posting from my phone).
Looks great; I drove up as a 12 year old with my mum. We spent our summer holidays driving over some of the great cols of France. This was long before I got a road bike; I did mountain bike then but on a 32lb Townsend.
I just posted this to my local (coffee and cake) club and sparked interest for a weekend away. Has anyone experience of hiring a decent bike near to The Ventoux? Also accommodation reccomendations?
Vive la vie V.
@Skip
I'd be up for that too.
These guys look good
http://www.veloventoux.com/
I may be up for this too, but there really needs to be a special slow group that I can hang off the back of.