Don't Laugh!!

Brian1
Brian1 Posts: 595
edited October 2007 in Road beginners
I quite fancy doing one or two of the Tour mountain stages next year on holiday, only problem is I am sh 1t scared of heights!!! I would like to do Mt.Ventoux which a mate has told me hasnt any sheer drops like Galibier(or is he taking the piss) Can anybody make recomendations?

Comments

  • keith57
    keith57 Posts: 164
    Mt Ventoux doesn't have any steep drop offs - apart from it being very windy at the top quite often! Galibier is OK too - the steep drops weren't an issue for me on the way up, and going down it's easy to go quite slowly if you are nervous :-) Great views and excellent fun, thoroughly recommended!
    http://www.fachwen.org
    https://www.strava.com/athletes/303457

    Please note: I’ll no longer engage deeply with anonymous forum users :D
  • ajohn9
    ajohn9 Posts: 260
    haha :)
    joke! I wouldnt reccommend the pyrenees then, because it seems as if there are more sheer drops there than the alps
  • popette
    popette Posts: 2,089
    ajohn9 wrote:
    haha :)
    joke! I wouldnt reccommend the pyrenees then, because it seems as if there are more sheer drops there than the alps

    really? I was hoping to do an etape in 2009 which I think will be pyrenees (sp?) and I also am scared of heights. oh well, it adds to the challenge. :shock:
    http://www.2010etape.blogspot.com
  • andyp
    andyp Posts: 10,449
    I'm sh1t scared of heights too but rarely have any problems with either climbing or descending in the high mountains. If you're lucky you may be like me!

    I'm not sure why this is but I really don't think about sheer drops (which are rare btw) when I'm cycling, maybe it's because I'm concentrating on the road and not the drops. The only col I've ever had any bother with was descending the Col de la Bonette/Restefond as there was a long drop on the right hand side, the road surface was rough and the camber of the road ran from left to right so I seemed to be creeping towards the edge. I survived though.
  • Fab Foodie
    Fab Foodie Posts: 5,155
    Ventoux's fine, just don't try to do it in August at midday 100 F in Bedoin and no breeze...and market day. The heat beat me. Will have to go back and nail it on a cooler day/time.
    However there are no steep drops.

    Made the descent at an average of 40mph with top speeds on the straights of 49 mph...good brakes and tyres required. Excellent fun hurtling past cars and poncey 4x4's

    Go for it! :D
    The pessimists of this world are rarely disappointed....
    Fab's TCR1
  • Monty Dog
    Monty Dog Posts: 20,614
    You'll want to avoid the Aubisque as well on a clear day - as you head from the Soulor, there's a thumping great drop on your righthand side! However, the Aspin, Tourmalet and Lourdes Hautacam are OK - however Luz Ardiden and Peyresourd both have sections of switch-back and drop-offs. Descent down the Tourmalet, like the Galibier is scary-fast - top speed is determined as much by your bottle!
    Make mine an Italian, with Campagnolo on the side..
  • nickcuk
    nickcuk Posts: 275
    Fab Foodie wrote:
    Made the descent at an average of 40mph with top speeds on the straights of 49 mph...good brakes and tyres required. Excellent fun hurtling past cars and poncey 4x4's

    I don't mind the downhill speeds but overtaking d*head drivers is another thing. Let the speed rip when the roads clear and the anchors are upto the job
  • ajohn9
    ajohn9 Posts: 260
    the peyresourde and tourmalet are brilliant descents, tourmalet just hurts your neck and shoulders after a while though, but its great, managed 56 down a straight on there last year :)
  • knedlicky
    knedlicky Posts: 3,097
    When I went with a friend to watch the Tour about 3-4 years ago, a stage which ended in Morzine (and which Virenque won), together with many others we decided to ride up Col de la Ramaz in advance of the Tour.
    Somehow in the masses of people I lost him and that evening, when he hadn’t returned to Cluses, where we were staying, I contacted the police. They weren’t too concerned, suggesting he’d perhaps found a bar in Morzine.

    But when I rang up again next morning and said he was still missing, they sent out the local fire brigade to look over the cliff edge halfway up the col, in case he’d gone over the edge, saying it’s happened before!


    (He did turn up about 24 hours after he'd disappeared, looking very bedraggled – he’d forgotten where we were staying and got lost riding around trying to recognise somewhere. It seems he’d slept in a field near Samoens, and somewhere in or near the field dropped his wallet with money, credit card, etc. We later looked but couldn’t find it.)

    PS. I do know of a guy who went over the edge descending the northern side of the Croix de Fer, but he had the good fortune to land in a sand pit 30-40 ft below the edge. Nothing broken.
  • chrisjsmith
    chrisjsmith Posts: 280
    Inevitable link: http://youtube.com/watch?v=QVhYjbIRYAs
  • drenkrom
    drenkrom Posts: 1,062
    That's just cruel!

    yet somehow funny....
  • giant_man
    giant_man Posts: 6,878
    I myself am not very good on heights, tops of high buildings etc, just does me in but on a bike it has to be different. I don't think it would bother me riding on high cols etc. which I have yet to do! :)
  • Felix-da-house-mouse
    Felix-da-house-mouse Posts: 801
    just keep yer eyes on the road and you'll have nowt to worry about, not as if you have to look down a sheer cliff face lol!!!! :roll:
    felix's bike

    pedal like you stole something!!!

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