Mont Ventoux

ilovebigwig

If anyone is interested in seeing two real amateurs take it on....

www.youtube.com/watch?v=6q38Gyjv4EE

carbonmanx

ah well, looks a piece of pi$$ from that! :-D

cant say i would have been as generous tho and "let him win" the stage.. lol

briantrumpet

Frank the tank wrote:

Has anyone on here ridden it in windy/less than ideal (whatever they are?) conditions as from what I've read the wind can be exceptionally vicious.

Did it last week, from Malaucène. (1h52m). Very warm at the bottom, but all the riders coming down were taking it steady. When I reached the top, I realised why - extremely strong and gusty winds, making the descent, er, interesting. Once or twice I was blown sideways, and a couple of times was slowed right down to about 20mph by headwinds. It was still great fun. One of my mates riding got a top speed of 54mph (and didn't get blown off), so he was happy.

Oh, re advice - did it on a 50/34 12-27 compact, two 750ml bottles of water, and a couple of bananas and two or three cereal bars. The plan had been to descend into Bedouin and do it again from that side, but we started too late, and anyway the wind from the Bedouin side would have made that descent a nightmare.

mozwyn69

The main problem with Mount Ventoux can be the extremes of weather. I've done it 5 times and it's the only climb I have backed off due to heat. The last time there I was attempting the three ascents in a day, on the second time up the wind had picked up to about 100km at the summit and I got blown off the bike into the middle of the road. It was impossible to ride and even walking with the bike was difficult. Fortunately a kindly Belgium couple gave me and bike a lift to Chalet Reynard.
As with all these big hills though with suitable gearing,a bit of luck with the weather and pacing yourself they are well within the reach of most cyclists.