Paul_L
Über Member
- Location
- Shipley, West Yorks
I've wanted to do this for years but never really had the opportunity before.
This year, however when the family decided to drive to the south of France for our holiday, I spotted my chance, and factored into the schedule a two night stopover about 10 miles south of Bedoin.
So last Sunday morning I set off from the village of Venasque towards Bedoin in very good conditions; sunny, about 17 degrees but a noticeable stiff northerly breeze / wind. I met up with the wife and kids in the car in Bedoin after this mostly flat, exposed 10mile warm up, slightly concerned about the wind.
Quick refill of the water bottle, and off I set from the bottom of road D974. As I'd read, the first 4 or 5 kms are easy, but you know what's ahead so I was riding very steady. From the small village of Saint Esteve it then kicks up and stays kicked up all the way to Chalet Reynard through the forest. Even with the shelter of the forest the northerly wind was having an impact, so god knows what it was going to be like on the exposed upper section. I had arranged to meet up with the family at the café at Chalet Reynard, and for some reason I'd convinced myself that this was 7 miles into the climb. So when 7 miles came and went with no cafe in sight this rankled me a bit, but I was climbing OK, and knew it was coming at some point so tried not to panic too much.
So when after 9 miles, the road flattened and converged with the route up from Sault, I made sure I looked presentable for the on rushing kids. Bedoin to Chalet Reynard in 1h21mins. Stopped for about 15mins for a coffee and pastry, a refill of bottles, but more importantly to change from shorts into winter tights as it was now just 4 degrees and bloody windy.
The next rendezvous point was the Tom Simpson memorial about 1km from the summit. This was the hardest section as even though the gradients eased a tad, the winds were awful. They were offering slight assistance when moving west, but on the roads heading directly north they were shocking. The Simpson statue was surrounded by snow, but I had a few moments there and got my son out of the car for a photograph. The frozen snow in my cleats made it really hard to clip back in, but once I managed this the last 1km was pretty uneventful, if a bit slow going cos of the wind. There was quite a bit of snow at the top, although the Col road was fully open. The temperature had dropped to zero at the top, so I didn't hang around too long.
Final stats : 13.8 miles in 2hr 1min @ 6.8mph. Overtook 7 and passed by 5, although they were a group.
Ritchie Porte from Sky arrived at the top just after me, which is a shame as it would have been great to have been passed by a top climber just to get a feel for how fast they climb.
My route back took me down the other side to Malaucene and I descended in about 24mins (33mph ave). Overall my ride was 57miles with 2200m of climbing, which was a decent workout.
A fantastic experience, a bloody hard climb and one which I'd like to repeat again someday.
This year, however when the family decided to drive to the south of France for our holiday, I spotted my chance, and factored into the schedule a two night stopover about 10 miles south of Bedoin.
So last Sunday morning I set off from the village of Venasque towards Bedoin in very good conditions; sunny, about 17 degrees but a noticeable stiff northerly breeze / wind. I met up with the wife and kids in the car in Bedoin after this mostly flat, exposed 10mile warm up, slightly concerned about the wind.
Quick refill of the water bottle, and off I set from the bottom of road D974. As I'd read, the first 4 or 5 kms are easy, but you know what's ahead so I was riding very steady. From the small village of Saint Esteve it then kicks up and stays kicked up all the way to Chalet Reynard through the forest. Even with the shelter of the forest the northerly wind was having an impact, so god knows what it was going to be like on the exposed upper section. I had arranged to meet up with the family at the café at Chalet Reynard, and for some reason I'd convinced myself that this was 7 miles into the climb. So when 7 miles came and went with no cafe in sight this rankled me a bit, but I was climbing OK, and knew it was coming at some point so tried not to panic too much.
So when after 9 miles, the road flattened and converged with the route up from Sault, I made sure I looked presentable for the on rushing kids. Bedoin to Chalet Reynard in 1h21mins. Stopped for about 15mins for a coffee and pastry, a refill of bottles, but more importantly to change from shorts into winter tights as it was now just 4 degrees and bloody windy.
The next rendezvous point was the Tom Simpson memorial about 1km from the summit. This was the hardest section as even though the gradients eased a tad, the winds were awful. They were offering slight assistance when moving west, but on the roads heading directly north they were shocking. The Simpson statue was surrounded by snow, but I had a few moments there and got my son out of the car for a photograph. The frozen snow in my cleats made it really hard to clip back in, but once I managed this the last 1km was pretty uneventful, if a bit slow going cos of the wind. There was quite a bit of snow at the top, although the Col road was fully open. The temperature had dropped to zero at the top, so I didn't hang around too long.
Final stats : 13.8 miles in 2hr 1min @ 6.8mph. Overtook 7 and passed by 5, although they were a group.
Ritchie Porte from Sky arrived at the top just after me, which is a shame as it would have been great to have been passed by a top climber just to get a feel for how fast they climb.
My route back took me down the other side to Malaucene and I descended in about 24mins (33mph ave). Overall my ride was 57miles with 2200m of climbing, which was a decent workout.
A fantastic experience, a bloody hard climb and one which I'd like to repeat again someday.
