Your ride today....

[cyberknight]

Determined to get a decent ride in today but i didnt plan a route so just followed my nose with the intent of heading to the kabin at twycross but got there way to ealry so i continued heading for bosworth battlefield centre .
A few miles from bosworth near the water park the traffic was at a standstill as a family of swans was walking along the road and the cars had been stopped by a couple of ladies who were trying to herd the swans onto the grass , eventually a couple of guys turned up from the park ? and got them off the road,
I then continued to the tithe barn cafe where i found out the coffee machine was broke ! i had to have tea which was a nice change as i havent drunk tea in years .
Headed home into the pretty sharp cross headwind for a total of 47 well earned

miles .

 

[ianrauk]

A fab days riding with @Trickedem up and down through the Kentish lanes. A fabulous day for it. Stopping for a Bacon buttie at the Hop Pickers Rest in Yalding and finishing off with a well earned pint at the Granville in Rochester.
46 fab miles for the day.

 

[13 rider]

13 rider goes to France 🇨🇵 part Duex
Day 3
This was another transition day as we moved hotels so Moustiers Sainte Marie to Sisteron .The guides had now got as idea of everyone's riding abilities and the start times were staggered so in theory we all arrive at lunch together .I was the fastest of the slow group or the slowest of the quick group and had the option ,I decided to ride with the quicker group until lunch hoping to hang on in the draft until the route split after lunch . The group dynamics worked well the stronger riders towing us along on the flats then me or another just hanging on rider set the tempo up the climbs as I found if difficult to ride the climbs in zone 2 so always pushed on a bit .The timing for lunch sorted of worked out and we all stopped at a fantastic local boulangerie which was cheap and portions massive excellent value for money

CycleChat in France

We did a bit of the tour La Provence route .Again after lunch the route split and this is my 1 regret of the trip ,I chose the shorter route again as I was conscious of the fatigue building up and what was to come and didn't do Montagne du Lure or Ventuex,s little sister in hindsight I could have done it

The 1st view of Ventuex

General mountain scenery .
By doing the shorter route got me to Sisteron and the hotel earlier than most allowing me time to wonder around the town with it's ancient citadel and amazing surroundings





Day 3 stats 63.2 miles with just 3638ft of elevation and 3hrs 50mins in the saddle

 

[13 rider]

13 rider goes to France 🇨🇵 part trois
Day 4
Another transition day Sisteron to Malaucene .Another ride through stunning scenery including the Gorges de la Meouge and the Gorge de Nesque difficult to chose my favourite . Set off with the same plan as the day before hang onto the faster group until lunch .We had a spot of rain which turning into hail as I neared the top of one climb and saw lightening in the distance and had thunder near by which was slightly disconcerting but it didn't go cold

The wet roads made descending interesting, you can see how quick it passed . In the Gorge de Nesque I got my only puncture of the week it what can only be described as the beautiful place to get a puncture. The roads are very narrow here so much that the support vans are not allowed in the Gorge but there was a refuge off the road so I could safely change the tube ,which I got done surprisingly quickly considering I hadn't changed a tube in years as I run tubeless on my bikes . I could only inflate the tyre to about 60psi with the mini pump so had to take it easy on the rest of the descent but thankfully as I exited the Gorge the vans waiting so new spare tube grabbed and made use of the track pump

Not a bad place for a puncture. As we nearer Malaucene I start to recognise climb names from the tour de France we did part of the Col de Madeline and past by the town of Sault which is where one ascent of Ventuex starts from

Sault

Getting Near
Day 4 stat 77.7 miles 4462ft of elevation with 4hrs 55mins in the saddle

 

[geocycle]

Scones provided the inspiration for today’s ride. After last week’s epic I felt like finishing the month with a more gentle route. Early morning rain meant a late start which set the tone for the day. The weather was overcast and quite breezy which blew me to Kirkby Lonsdale. The bakery there is a well-known source of excellent scones which I managed to squeeze into my saddle bag. After Kirkby I headed up into the limestone Hills of Hutton roof which gave some nice views across towards the Lake District. From there it was mainly downhill to Silverdale. After a look at the sea from the Cove, I made my way to the Wolf Café for the standard cyclist’s flat white and cinnamon bun. Short return ride left me having completed 67 km with 793 m of climbing.


Pictures are of some lovely woodland with mossy stone walls, typical undulating lowland lanes and Silverdale Cove.

 

[13 rider]

13 rider goes to France 🇨🇵 part Quatre
Day 5 ,Ventuex Day 😮. The whole previous days had been leading up to this ,can I climb Ventuex ? . At the ride briefing the night before 4 of the group decided to take on the club de cingles ( translation club of crazies) and take on all 3 ascents in one day, 3 of us me included 😮 were going for 2 the other 8 just content with getting up once .Start times were all over the place and credit to the 2 support vans who had to cope with people all over the mountain but somehow were always in the right place for everyone . The 3 timers took on the Malaucene climb first so that meant climbing out straight out of the door this has the steepest gradients and is thought to be the most difficult everyone else got a warm up by riding from Malaucene to Bedion to do that ascent the middle in terms of difficulty .My wahoo kindly reminded at the start I'd got 12.5 miles to go and only 5181ft of elevation 😮😮. The first few miles are nice and gradual at less than 5%. Just before we hit the steeper stuff we had a van stop to fill water bottles etc . Then onto the 9 10 % gradients found my climbing rhythm and just rode on keeping the pedals turning the mountain is full of riding so your constantly getting overtaken or overtaking others . I slowly started passing our slower riders who had started earlier and was questioning my pacing but legs felt ok so just pressed on . As time went on the temperature started to rise as your riding slowly and get little air flow as you ride . I chose to stop at chalet Reynard for a coke before the final push to the summit . This section has no shade no vegetation and is described as a moonscape with little wind it was hot . Back on the bike and you get the first proper view of the summit which seems near but isn't . About halfway along this stretch I started feeling a bit queasy as the heat really got to me and I regretted not having just water in a bottle so I could have poured it over me . Had to stop at the Tom Simpson memorial for a photo which is so close to the summit

Stopping wasn't a good idea as I heated up even more and it's at this point I decided one ascent is enough even if the ascent from Sault is easier I would have to ride this section from chalet Reynard again and my brain said no way am I doing this again . Struggling now 200mts from the summit the van and a few of the group shouting encouragement got me to the top even remembering to do the Tour de France finish bit

Me struggling near the top

Made it 😁😁😁

The view

A fellow tour rider doing the tour de France finish .After a relaxing coffee at the cafe there was just one thing left to do Descend ,so just the 12 miles downhill oh boy was that fun 😁😁 apart from the swarm of flies for the first 1 mile near the summit which were pinging off you . 3 of us descended together not really pushing it but we didn't hang about averaged over 30mph for the downhill which made a nice change from the 6.5mph going up . Funny story of the day one lady doing the 3 ascents missed the turning going down after her 2nd ascent and ended up back in Bedion again rather than Sault ,the van came to her rescue and transferred her to Sault saving either a 20 mile detour or another ascent to chalet Reynard then down to Sault . The 4 all did the 3 ascents ,2 made 2 ascents and all 9 of us made it up .What a day

Spotted at the bottom of Ventuex no idea if they were going up 😮
Day 5 stats just 34.4 miles nice short day oh and 5850ft of elevation ,time in saddle 1min over 3hrs . For those interested my Strava segment time is 2hrs 36mins but that includes a van stop ,cafe stop and photo stop at the memorial so I'd estimate something around 2hrs 10 to 2hrs 15 ,having done the zwift version in a tad under 2hrs I was more than happy with that time

Sunset over our hotel after an EPIC day