Mont Ventoux Cingles

Harryt

Three mates and I are heading to Provence this weekend for a crack at the Cingles and I have a quick 'rules' question if anyone can help please?
One guy has had an injury break so is only aiming to do two ascents (Bedoin and Sault) which means, having started from Bedoin, he will drive round to Sault for the last climb. My question therefore is whether we are ok to start in one village and finish in another as the flyer with the brevet seems to suggest starting and finishing in the same one? The last thing we want to do is go through 10 hours of hell and then fail on a technicality...!
Many thanks in advance.

ugo.santalucia

If the Brevet says you have to start in A and finish in B, then you have to start in A and finish in B doing exactly as described. These brevets are pretty prescriptive, which I think is the right way to go about it... otherwise it becomes "Everesting".
I have a brevet (Raid Pyrenean) and it was pretty prescriptive about where to start, where and when to finish and which roads and chackpoints you have to go through

JoostG

I guess your goal is to climb the three different ascents of the Ventoux in one day and the way to do it is the Cinglé? If you want to be part of monsieur Pique leaderboard you should make sure you have stamps of all 3 villages and 3 stamps of the top. There is no time mentioned, so it doesn't matter in which order you climb and descent.
I've done it twice, got all the stamps, and ....... was to lazy to send it back to France :oops:

drlodge

I've got a couple of questions regarding this and I'm not sure I understand the OPs question 100%.

The Cingles rules state you have to ascent the 3 tarmac routes *up* (call them B,M,S), within 24 hours, between midnight and midnight. So there is a time limit. It doesn't explicitly state that you have to finish in the same place that you started. The normal route might be B-M-S-B but I can't see anything that prevents you from finishing in any village. However what's not clear to me is:
- assuming the route B-M-S-B, when would you get your brevet stamped in Bedoin, at the start or the end? This might dictate whether start and end points need to be the same.
- there is only one summit stamp required, when do you have this done?
- I also wonder if you have to put a specific date when you apply, and if you can then decide to do it on a different date (e.g. due to weather)?

Going back to the OPs post, I don't understand what this 2 climbs chap will do - Start in Bedoin, climb and descent to Malaucene and then drive round to Sault to do that ascent? Why not descend from the summit, having gone up from Bedoin, down to Sault? And why do you need to finish in a different village anyway...

drlodge

From the Cingles web site:

There is no official way to do the Cinglé which is set in stone but generally the best way is do do it like this:

Start in Malaucene and ride the 12km to Bedoin, this is a nice warm up. (Optional)
- Ascend the mountain from Bedoin.
- Descend to Malaucene and re-ascend from there.
- Descend to Sault and re-ascend from there. (on the way down, if you've started early enough, it's a good idea to stop for food at Chalet Reynard)
- Descend to Bedoin or Malaucene for celebratory beers and pizzas.

Hence, according to this last line, you can choose where to finish.

narbs

drlodge wrote:

I've got a couple of questions regarding this and I'm not sure I understand the OPs question 100%.

The Cingles rules state you have to ascent the 3 tarmac routes *up* (call them B,M,S), within 24 hours, between midnight and midnight. So there is a time limit. It doesn't explicitly state that you have to finish in the same place that you started. The normal route might be B-M-S-B but I can't see anything that prevents you from finishing in any village. However what's not clear to me is:
- assuming the route B-M-S-B, when would you get your brevet stamped in Bedoin, at the start or the end? This might dictate whether start and end points need to be the same.
- there is only one summit stamp required, when do you have this done?
- I also wonder if you have to put a specific date when you apply, and if you can then decide to do it on a different date (e.g. due to weather)?

Going back to the OPs post, I don't understand what this 2 climbs chap will do - Start in Bedoin, climb and descent to Malaucene and then drive round to Sault to do that ascent? Why not descend from the summit, having gone up from Bedoin, down to Sault? And why do you need to finish in a different village anyway...

I'm doing this next week.

My understanding is the stamp record is more of an honour thing - you just need one from B, M, S and the summit.

I had to give a date of departure which for the organiser means date of leaving your home town, giving them an idea of who needs their brevet cards urgently.

I'll be doing B, M, S ascents, starting and finishing in Bedoin. By the end I doubt I'll care about a certificate

durhamwasp

I don't think there is any rule as such saying you must descend every route, its just the natural way I suppose. We didn't get a stamp at the bottom in Bedoin at the end. We got our one summit stamp after the first ascent, which for us was from Bedoin, where we also got our first stamp at at 7:13am at the bakery on the start of an epic days cycling.

I guess your mate it climbing from Bedoin, descending back to Bedoin, driving to Sault then climbing from there and descending back to Sault. Why don't you just descent back down to Bedoin, and let him drive back to Bedoin from Sault? If I was you, for all theres no rule, I would want to ascent and descend each route.

Becoming a Cingle is an honour, but also fun. Do you really think Mr Pic would care if you did it a day after you stated? Its just so he knows when to get your brevet to you by. Having been to Bedoin several times I'd say most people aiming to be Cingles should give themselves a 3 day window to do it, so unpredictable is the weather.

Check our write up when 4 of us became Cingles https://snookcycling.wordpress.com/cing ... ntventoux/

narbs

Well I completed it yesterday - probably the worst day's weather I could have chosen this week.

Drove to Bédoin aiming to start at 7 and the rain got worse as I got nearer. By half past it had at least stopped so I got my card stamped in the PMU bar, had a coffee and set off. Didn't see another cyclist until Chalet Reynard and then only a few descending as I got the the summit for the first time, visibility was less than 10m. Met a group of about 10 Scottish riders who had come up from Sault, and were then doing Bédoin finishing with Malaucène - interesting route.

The descent to Malaucène was horrible - bitterly cold mist and low visibility meant I was on the brakes constantly for the first 5k and my hands were freezing. Had a coffee and croissant in the town, got my card stamped and stopped shivering just in time to head back up again.

The mist was still covering the top 5k and it had started drizzling as well. The last couple of kilometres were a real struggle mentally - with no visibility there was no sense of actually nearing the summit. Still, made it, got the Ventoux stamp from the gift shop and descending into the (relative) warmth of Sault for lunch.

The final climb from Sault is comparatively easy until Chalet Reynard - the last km past the Simpson memorial would have seen me passed by walkers if there were any! Reached the summit for the third time bang on 5 o'clock. Descended back to Bédoin and that was that.

Of course, sat outside having breakfast now and the sky is clear and the sun's shining!

drlodge

Well done narbs. I have a couple of friends who did it over the Bank holiday weekend, weather wasn't great for them either.

Out of interest, what was your bottom gear ratio?

DeVlaeminck

Well done sounds a challenge in those conditions. Last time I climbed it I ended up at the summit around 7pm at the end of a beautiful still Summer day - hardly anyone else there apart from some guy herding some goats - it was really quite an experience.

narbs

drlodge wrote:

Well done narbs. I have a couple of friends who did it over the Bank holiday weekend, weather wasn't great for them either.

Out of interest, what was your bottom gear ratio?

Thanks!

I did it with a 34-29 which is my usual gearing for the mountains.

I'm doing the Granfondo Ventoux - Beaumes de Venise on Saturday which includes the Bédoin ascent so will be interesting to see the difference in time for the climb (if any!).

pblakeney

narbs wrote:

.... Met a group of about 10 Scottish riders who had come up from Sault, and were then doing Bédoin finishing with Malaucène - interesting route....

Well done! A challenging day made even more so by the weather.
I know some of these guys. One of them (jokingly?) posted that his bike was for sale after completion.
Their route will have been dictated by accommodation location. (Cycling, no driving).

drlodge

narbs wrote:

I did it with a 34-29 which is my usual gearing for the mountains.

I'm doing the Granfondo Ventoux - Beaumes de Venise on Saturday which includes the Bédoin ascent so will be interesting to see the difference in time for the climb (if any!).

A fellow Campagnoloer then ;-) That's the exact gearing I have.

buckmulligan

Very well done Narbs! Great to hear a recent account seeing as I'm going to give it a shot next week!

What are the conditions like at the moment? Is there still snow at the top? I'm hoping the weather picks up in the next week, but I've only got one day to give it a shot so I think it's going to be a bit of lottery regardless.

Also, can you pick up a brevet card in one of the towns or do you need it in advance? I looked into it a while ago but was put off by the 20€ admin fee (I figured my bank account had taken enough of a bruising from all the other expenses of the holiday) but I might reconsider if it's still an option.

drlodge

You have to complete this form http://www.clubcinglesventoux.org/en/inscriptions.html at least 8 days before the attempt and cough up the EUR 20 fee. Or you can just do it.

buckmulligan

I managed to complete this last week in the end; an absolutely epic day on the bike and one I'll never forget!

Out of sheer luck, I don't think I could have had much better weather. I started out from Bedoin just before 08:00 and there were already plenty of people leaving town and heading up the slopes. Fantastic views of the Géant from the bottom and even more fantastic views from the top. That first ascent absolutely flew by even though I was consciously trying to hold back the effort in anticipation of the next two efforts.

The descent down to Malaucène is an absolute dream, over 20 km of perfectly smooth flowing tarmac. I grabbed some quick food and drink at a cafe in town and headed straight back up for the second time. This time it dragged on a bit more, the ascent from Malaucène is hard, the sun was starting to beat down and those last couple of kms of hairpins when you can see the summit high above you were really tough.

After another photo I went straight down to Sault, the descent here was amazing but slightly more effort. The lower gradient meant some periods of actually having to pedal to keep the pace up, but this helped to clear the legs after the burning ascent from Malaucène. I decided to do the short little climb up to the village of Sault and grab some more sustainance; unfortunately I hit the lunchtime rush hour, so spent more time trying to get the waiter's attention than actually eating, but after a couple of desserts and a coffee I was on my way up again. The climb from Sault wasn't tough, but it is LONG and shouldn't be underestimated.

Coming out at Chalet Reynard again, I was pretty confident knowing that I only had to tackle those final, barren 6 kms to the top again, but jeez they were hard. Those kms that flew by some 6 hours earlier seemed twice as long and every time I looked at the summit, it just didn't seem to be getting any closer! In the end I made it back up there for a third time some ~7 hours 15 mins after I started out from Bedoin and I loved (almost) every minute of it!

Highly recommended and there's a few pictures here if anyone is interested:

https://www.strava.com/activities/604831645

narbs

Great effort! Looks like perfect weather as well - very jealous

drlodge

Nice bit of riding there, kudos!