Slaying the Giant of Provence

After catching the finish of stage 17 in Revel Wednesday, everyone loaded up and headed east to Provence. There the plan was to veer off the Tour track and tackle Mont Ventoux or the “Giant of Provence” the next day.

Thursday morning, we awoke to bright Provencal blue skies and a strong northerly Mistral wind. The conditions looked good for our final climb of our “Tour of France.” The groups gathered in Malaucene at the base of the climb and planned to ride to Bedoin. There we would start the classic ascent of the Ventoux, climbing the way the Tour normally ascends.

I started with a group of guys who had spent most of the prior week grinding out the climbs together. There was John Cranston from San Francisco, Tim Carrigg from Sand Springs, Oklahoma, Ross Moody from Austin, Texas, Bryan Leuenberger also from Austin, Robert Fulton from Portland, Oregon, Don Leet from Bend, Oregon, Brett MacDonnell from Walnut Creek, California and Joel Eisenberg from San Fernando, California. They all seemed a little tired but eager to add this epic climb to their already impressive list of accomplishments.

The “Ventoux before” shot of John, Tim, VSV guide Mike, Brett, Don, Joel, Bob, Bryan, Ross and VSV guide Jean-Luc.

As we warmed up on a baby version of the Madeleine, I took the opportunity to talk to Tim who was wearing an OSU jersey. I had grown up a Buckeye and wondered what his connection was. Tim told me he was the crew coach there for a number of years before moving to Oklahoma where he now lives. John, who was just in front of us, threw in the fact that he had been a competitive rower for the last several years. A young but seasoned 25-year-old, John had also raced bikes for eight years before decided there was more he wanted to do in life than train. He is here with his father, Harold Cranston, and said that they had been planning on coming to see the Tour for the last four years. They decided this was their year after John hung up his oars and got out of rowing.

I also talked to Bryan and Ross, who told me though they were both from Austin, Texas, they had only met on this trip (at least in this life). They seemed to keep a similar pace on the bike and with their one-liners. Bryan is being coached by Kevin Livingston. (despite the fact that an earlier blog said Ross was a Livingston client – oops!) Kevin had this advice for Bryan on the Ventoux – “Go hard for the first six kilometers. Then suffer through the next nine before you hit the gas at Chalet Reynard with six kilometers to go.” Bryan said he just hoped he had some gas to hit at Chalet Reynard.

Before we hit the actual climb, we topped off our food and water at a VSV rest stop courtesy of the ever-present Sophie. With her in the car was Michele Cherre, the one non-cyclist on the trip. She is here with her husband Tim who she said was in heaven. Michele told me she was also enjoying the trip and her designated role as “class photographer” for the group. She has also had her share of adventures along the Tour roads as Sophie’s sidekick.

Our little group stayed pretty close together until we hit the six kilometer mark at St. Esteve where the road went from 5% to 10% grade. We had several Belgian guys join us from Bedoin – which is pretty normal on a mountain that attracts hundreds of cyclists a day to its slopes. But at St. Esteve, they too dropped off to find their own pace.

Though warm and sunny, a fairly prevalent northwest wind kept us cool through this grinding wooded part of the climb. There I had the chance to ride with several folks from the other group. I met Hal Kennamer from Guntersville, Alabama who was here with five other friends from Alabama. He was having a great time so far and was feeling up to the task of climbing one the most dreaded mountains in France.

Just up the road behind him, I met Connie Hembree, also from Guntersville. Though she had only started riding earlier this year, Connie was cranking out the kilometers at an impressive clip, all the while with a big smile on her face. She is here with her husband Robert Hembree. Also in their group is Morris Seymour from Huntsville, Alabama. I saw Morris later on the climb as he flew by the feed zone at Chalet Reynard. He was getting stronger and stronger every day and seemed to have found his climbing legs on the hardest mountain yet.

Rob and Rick on their way to the top.

Another client who seemed to be getting stronger with every passing day was Robert Wendel from Sacramento, California. He introduced himself as a complete cycling “newbee” and told me he had only started riding three months ago. His friend Richard Jones, who was just a few meters up the road from us, had talked him into this “cycling immersion” trip. An experienced cyclist, Rick had prepped Robert for the trip—and specifically the Ventoux—by sending him websites and information on the Ventoux and its history. Rick also got his friend out on several challenging rides in the weeks leading up to the trip. The training seemed to have paid off because Robert road his Bike Friday to the summit of the Ventoux with ease.

Color coordinated Nancy demos the benefits of tea flavored water.

Before I summited, I hung out at our feed zone at Chalet Reynard. There I finally had a chance to talk to Al Kwong Hing from Toronto, Canada. He was hanging out waiting for his wife Brenda to roll up so he could help block the wind for her for the last six exposed kilometers of the climb. When Brenda rolled up a few minutes later, she was all smiles and pigtails and ready to finish off this Giant.

Just one kilometer to go Tom.

I left the Chalet and did the last windy section of the climb with the “party peleton” group. Jonica and Ryan Burke were part of this fun bunch along with John Luginbill from Cincinnati, Ohio, Nancy Meyer from Portola, California, Tom Lynch from Colorado Springs, Colorado, Jack Cushman from Lansing, Michigan and Dusty Culton from Okemo, Michigan. We spread out and did what we could to fight against and work with the swirling wind atop the mountain. Several of us stopped at the Tom Simpson memorial to pay our respects to the man who never made it to the summit of this mountain. Then we clipped in and pushed through the last several meters to our goal in the sky.

Ryan and Jonika stop at the Simpson Memorial with one kilometer to go to the summit.

On the windy but beautiful descent down the mountain, Tom Lynch, Ryan Burke and Syed Yusoof joined me. We sailed down the smooth, steep road to Malaucene, one time reaching 78 kilometers per hour. In Malaucene, we joined the rest of the group for a nice lunch and viewing of the last part of the Tour stage. There were still two clients out on the mountain - Jonathan Purvis and Greg O'Brien - working their way up the Ventoux for the third time. Unlike the rest of us mortals, these two crazy Hoosiers managed to climb Mont Ventoux three times in one day and still ride back to their hotel when it was all said and done for a 200 kilometer epic.

Today had definitely been more about us and our goals with the Tour as our backdrop. And everyone was happy to have risen to their individual challenges.