May 6, 2023
Sault: Mont Ventoux
Perfect weather and both Susan and I are feeling fit and mentally prepared for the big climb. Janos never intended to accompany us and is happy to take a farewell picture before we leave. We meet at nine sharp, but we don't have to stay together, each of us will ride at their own pace.
The climb starts out on a peaceful road, the birds are chirping. I take breaks and it's feeling easy. It's not the high season yet, but because it's a Saturday and amazing weather on Mont Ventoux, there are plenty of other ambitious cyclists out on the road passing me. The majority are very athletic looking roadies on bikes that even I could surely shoulder. And children, skinny little boys and girls standing in the pedals on the steeper parts. I don't think I pass anyone except one little girl in pink whom I tail for a while and then finally get ahead of. Once in a while I'll see another e-bike, usually younger people on rentals, who are making good time even when it gets decidedly steeper closer to the summit. Susan is not on an e-bike and when I take breaks now and again, she catches up. When the challenging section at the end comes, my cadence is slow and steady and my legs are feeling fresh. The last turns come into view, just rock and bare sandstone to all sides now and I see the summit - already? It can't be as close as it looks. But it is. I made it!
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1 year ago
First thing, I message Janos that I am at the top. It's not long before Susan appears. A high five, a big hug and sincere thank-you's to each other for making this possible.
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The beginning of the descent is not so easy for me, it is very exposed to my right, the drop off is unprotected. I have to concentrate and not look down, too scary. While I am squeezing and pumping the brakes, the roadies are whizzing by at a terrific speed. Eventually the gradient becomes more manageable and enjoyable. I stop to check my phone to see if I have a response from Janos. Do I ever!
Janos is the real hero of the day. Here's his story:
Not long after Susan and I leave, he decides to see what the road from Sault going up to Mont Ventoux looks like. He really likes it and keeps going, occasionally stopping for pictures and to fly his drone. His video from near the summit gives a better idea of the landscape than any photos.
At one point when he gets back on his bike, his chain breaks. It's a fairly new bike, that shouldn't happen. He has never had a chain break and has no tools with him to repair it, but there are plenty of cyclists eager to help. He is again underway and just approaching the spot where the final steep climb starts. Here his battery is so low he decides to turn around. He just has enough to return to the hotel. That is the plan, anyway.
At Chalet Reynard where the approach from Sault and Bédoin meet, he takes a wrong turn and heads down the shorter but steeper road to Bédoin. He soon realizes his mistake but doesn't have enough battery to ride back to the turnoff and it's already too far to push his extra-heavy e-bike. He has no other choice than to continue on to Bédoin where he finds a bicycle store that can charge his battery for the return trip home. It takes four hours for his battery to charge fully and it is already evening when he dials in a route that with more climbing gets him back to Sault. I think he gets in around 9:30. At least he had a good meal while waiting in Bédoin. He is no longer interested in dinner and falls into bed, completely exhausted but in amazingly good spirits. He wasn't on the summit and doesn't have a Mont Ventoux shirt to show off, but he certainly deserves the center spot on the podium.
Today's ride: 56 km (35 miles)
Total: 236 km (147 miles)
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