One of the things that I have been wanting to do for awhile now is climb Mont Ventoux in France, a famous Tour de France climb. At the end of AA Session 1, I had a five day break. About two weeks before this break commenced, I realized (pure luck) that the Tour had a stage finish on the Ventoux during my break! I immediately made plans to get over to France. I spent four days in France cycling.
 |
| The first day, I drove to the Ventoux and climbed up the s | outh side |
 |
| Atop the Ventoux (first ascent at dusk) |
 |
| Atop the Ventoux on Day 2 awaiting the Tour |
 |
| Claiming a spot 500meters from the Ventoux finish |
 |
| Looking down the south side of the Ventoux at all the team buses etc. |
 |
| Near the finish at the Ventoux |
 |
| Let the parade begin |
 |
| The helicopter is hovering to get coverage of Froome leading the charge |
|
|
 |
| Froome is on his way! |
 |
| Bastille Day victory for Froome! |
 |
| I love Schleck!! |
 |
| One of my favorite pictures |
 |
| The last peloton of riders, complete with Cav |
 |
| Cavendish |
 |
| After seeing the Tour, we departed, direction Alpe D'Huez. We stopped in this town for dinner on our way to Serres, France |
 |
| Serres, France |
 |
| Bastille Day storm rolling in |
On Day 3, me and Paul did a 60km countryside ride loop from Mens, France. My legs were spent on this day and the rolling hills were more difficult than the Ventoux had been or then the Alpe D'Huez would prove to be.
 |
| Me and Paul during the Mens loop |
 |
| A lake we encountered during the Mens, France loop |
 |
| The French countryside is absolutely stunning |
Everywhere we went, the Tour was there. We couldn't escape it. When we spent the night in Serres, we watched as Tour vehicles and camper vans poured through the small streets en route to the Alpe D'Huez. It was clear that if one is within 100mile radius of the Tour, there's no escaping it. We even say two large bus loads full of gendarmerie (police) being driven to the next spot. Below, on the countryside ride, we find that we are actually riding part of the next Tour stage.
 |
| Best lodging ever. We stayed here and planned to attack the Alpe D'Huez the next day. |
I cycled the Alpe D'Huez two days before the Tour was scheduled to make the ascent (twice in one day for them). One would have thought the Tour was coming through that day. The entire way up the ascent was lined with camper vans, people singing, dancing, listening to music, drinking morning brews and cheering the thousands of amateurs riding up. It was a party. I didn't want to leave, but unfortunately after ascending the Alpe D'Huez I had to get back to work. The descent was rather sketchy. Cars, motorcycles, vans driving up and down the route, cowboy cyclists flying down the descent, not to mention the THOUSANDS of cyclists riding up. It was a technical descent that I took quite slowly
 |
| Getting ready for the ascent, camper vans hanging out |
 |
| I cycled higher than the town itself into the cow pastures above |
 |
| The Stage finish |
No comments:
Post a Comment