VeloVentoux - In Praise of Quality Service - Mont Ventoux

Russell Smith · May 2012

IN PRAISE OF GOOD CUSTOMER SERVICE

All , I make NO apologies for the long post , and we all moan about bad service, but I thought you might like to know about the other side of the coin, and the quality of service that Velo and Blue http://veloandblue.wordpress.com/ received from Craig and Vicky at VeloVentoux whilst we tackled "Cinglistes" this week. The attention care and local knowledge we received from Craig and Vicky from making the initial enquiries in November to the drop off at Avignon Station on Wednesday evening was second to none.

Having not used (and I use this term loosely) a Holiday Company in any of our previous 3 Velo and Blue rides, I would wholely recommend VeloVentoux, Craig attended to our needs and gave us advice on the accomodation, food and rides available, Bike Mechanic, Transfers from Avignon via Eurostar the lot. We arrived at our Gite last Sunday, the rooms ar huge and spotless, with massive bathrooms, we had one meal arranged but ended eating away from the gite on one occasion (bad move), the food, home cooked by Vicky was out of this world Breakfast and the 3 course evening Meals, which included local produce, Wine on the table and that all important Beer Fridge.

We had two days to attempt or fail Cinglistes for our chosen charity, and Craigs local knowledge as a Road Cyclist (He is also a Very Good Climber) was invaluable, on Day 1 it was dry and we attempted Cinglistes but with Craigs knoweledge of Mont Ventoux he advised us to quit as the rain became horrendous, Sleet, Ice, Rain above Chalet Renard (after 2,000m climbing) and another try again tomorrow Tuesday May 1 which we duly did Craig was constantly with the team on all the climbs , and ensuring we safe mechanically, and we ensuring didn't have any scrapes, he acted as Paprazzi to on Mont Ventoux, we have spectacular pictures which we would not otherwise have. And yes we did achieve Cinglistes leaving at 7:00 am and finishing back at Craigs Gite at 8:00 pm. Mushroom Soup,Tartiflette for dinner, Lemon Tarte, washed down with local Vino, and a bit of Roy Ayers through the Speakers made for a wonderful 4 days In Provence. Delivered back in style at Avignon station which is just over 5 and a half hours by Eurostar.

But the true moral is that VeloVentoux made the trip what it was and we well be back again , to tackle something a bit more severe Maybe the Beer Fridge, GOOD QUALITY SERVICE SHOULD NOT GO UNREWARDED IF YOU NEED TO ASK ANYTHING PLEASE DO.

DETAILS
http://www.veloventoux.com
http://veloandblue.wordpress.com/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/veloandblue4/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Velovent ... 7299736099

5elo and Blue

bigjim · May 2012

Good advert.

craigenty · May 2012

Bloody hell - the cheque is in the post Russ

Seriously though. Thanks for your kind words. It was a pleasure working for you guys. Your enthusiasm was incredible - how much money did you raise in the end or is the total still going up?
10 guys - 12 hours - 24 ascents of Mont Ventoux - brilliant.

bigjim · May 2012

Bit rich for me though. £85 for B&B! Get back to you when the lottery numbers come up.

Russell Smith · May 2012

Jim no advert mate just as we saw it and the Anthony Nolan Trust has benefitted to a large 4 Figure sum , we generally DIY our rides Ride 24/Newcastle/Paris and intended on making Ventoux DIY, simply could not have done without Craigs local knowledge, and credit where credit is due. 3 Course meals were 15 Euro transfers Each way ,and Eurostar and accomodation came in at around £270 we had Brekky each morning to. Nice.....

bigjim · May 2012

Jim no advert mate just as we saw it

Thats why it was said with a smile.

el_rey · May 2012

I was there in the Summer of 2011. The food was excellent. Great service and a great area for riding. The price is a bargin.

craigenty · May 2012

bigjim wrote:

Bit rich for me though. £85 for B&B! Get back to you when the lottery numbers come up.

Hey up Jim,

Just to clarify the cost incase this has put anyone off making an enquiry with us.
I don't know if you've ever made an enquiry with us, but if you have and you've been quoted 85 quid, the only circumstance for this would be if you've asked for a single occupancy room during our peak season and we've been unable to pair you up with another guest.
It's very rare for this to happen - in fact this season out of all our bookings less than half a dozen folk have asked for single occupancy.
Bog standard rate is 60 quid and, as Russ as said above, I'd like to think you get a bit more than somewhere to sleep and some breakfast.

Cheers

Russell Smith · May 2012

I was stunned at my room and bagsied! it before the rest arrived, but each room was great, and then to have a bathroom the size of a bedroom well.. The bath was well needed by the time we arrived back from Ventoux, now about that swimming pool.

turkeytickler · May 2012

Amazing, I came on here on the off chance of finding something about the 3 ascents of ventoux and here it is!

Can I ask, how you would rate the challenge in terms of effort and training required?

I did ventoux from Bedouin a couple of years ago with practically no prep. I weighed 82 kg and just tapped along on the granny ring of my rather heavy hire bike until i got to the top, and was pretty spent!

I have got down to 72 kg now, and am much better trained. Fitness wise, you could call me an average club rider. If I were to go again I would either take my own bike which is pretty light, and put a compact up-front, or spend more on hiring something a little lighter.

Coming from Norfolk its not easy to do specific hill training.... so I'm just curious given your experience, how achievable you think it would be for someone with my starting position.

I would look to do it in July 2013, so over a year to prepare....

Any advice gratefully received.

craigenty · May 2012

turkeytickler wrote:

Amazing, I came on here on the off chance of finding something about the 3 ascents of ventoux and here it is!

Can I ask, how you would rate the challenge in terms of effort and training required?

I did ventoux from Bedouin a couple of years ago with practically no prep. I weighed 82 kg and just tapped along on the granny ring of my rather heavy hire bike until i got to the top, and was pretty spent!

I have got down to 72 kg now, and am much better trained. Fitness wise, you could call me an average club rider. If I were to go again I would either take my own bike which is pretty light, and put a compact up-front, or spend more on hiring something a little lighter.

Coming from Norfolk its not easy to do specific hill training.... so I'm just curious given your experience, how achievable you think it would be for someone with my starting position.

I would look to do it in July 2013, so over a year to prepare....

Any advice gratefully received.

In terms of difficulty I like to compare the Cinglé Challenge to a hard mountain Cyclosportive (like The Marmotte or La Ventoux or even The Dragon or the Fred) but without the added stress of a time limit or hundreds of other riders passing you and breaking your moral!! Do a few of those big UK sportives and you'll have an idea of the effort involved. They are great training too.

With a short warm up ride – usually the road between Malaucene and Bedoin, it’s just approximately 150km with almost 4500m of ascent – so almost comparable to La Marmotte.

You can always stop for coffee and even lunch – Omelette and chips at Chalet Reynard on the way down to Sault is awesome. Thats the secret - take your time.

We've had guests do The Cinglé in 13 hours and been fresh as a daisy - we've also had guests do it in 13 hours and been half dead on the top. A couple of days ago some guests of ours met some guys who had done it in 7 hours which is pretty quick!

If you've lost 10 kilos since your last ascent of The Ventoux you'll feel like your flying - I did the same in 2004/5. I lost 10 kilos over the winter and knocked 20 minutes off my time up from Bedoin

There’s a nice write up here from an ascent a few years ago:
http://pezcyclingnews.com/default.asp?p ... ry&id=6197

Cheers

Russell Smith · May 2012

Ask Away mate you'll definitely achieve Le Cinglistes , as long as the weather is fine, I would not go without a guide, as you have local knowledge.

Check our links Blog and FB page f(see links) or some stunning pictures .

Russ

turkeytickler · May 2012

Thanks Craig and Russ for the words of advice. Sounds hard but not insanely so! I think I was put off by the relatively small number of people that have done it (assuming that made it very difficult) I did the etape in 2004 (250km) and that took me 11 hours (I was way overweight/geared) so i have a rough idea what that feels like

Definitely going to give it a try next year.... best get on the lookout for some hills to train on

sunshineonleith · May 2012

I can only echo the good feedback regards Craig & Vicky at Veloventoux,i have been over with them 3/4 times now each trip better than the last, last year me and my mate done the Marmotte with them again level of knowledge second to none.and overall great event,few years ago i did Cingles so well done all who took part and all for great cause a hard day out but very rewarding,totally stunning cycling area im going back over in June just to do some warm weather cycling { i hope }regards cost i cannot complain about anything i have paid for with them year i done Cingles my flight to Edinburgh got cancelled due to strike Craig booked train to Lyon and flight from ther back for me great stuff, i find Craig i great guy with great hospitality as well as Vicky being very good cook stunning accomodation great people you can ask for no more,great feedback for genuine friendly people well done...

durhamwasp · May 2012

turkeytickler wrote:

Amazing, I came on here on the off chance of finding something about the 3 ascents of ventoux and here it is!

Can I ask, how you would rate the challenge in terms of effort and training required?

I did ventoux from Bedouin a couple of years ago with practically no prep. I weighed 82 kg and just tapped along on the granny ring of my rather heavy hire bike until i got to the top, and was pretty spent!

I have got down to 72 kg now, and am much better trained. Fitness wise, you could call me an average club rider. If I were to go again I would either take my own bike which is pretty light, and put a compact up-front, or spend more on hiring something a little lighter.

Coming from Norfolk its not easy to do specific hill training.... so I'm just curious given your experience, how achievable you think it would be for someone with my starting position.

I would look to do it in July 2013, so over a year to prepare....

Any advice gratefully received.

Effort - toughest thing ive done but so so rewarding. I weighed 79kg when i did it, and pretty much granny ringed it in the 34x28 on all 3 climbs, took us from 7am to 8pm but time was never an issue, just a matter of completing. We had pretty decent breaks in each village and at the top each time.

You can check my blog below for a report on how it went for us, and some tips.

JULIANBRAMLEY · July 2012

I went to Veloventoux back in 2008 and thought it was brilliant, just had a few days midweek on my own but was made to feel really welcome, really nice rooms and a good cycling buzz, learnt a lot from riding with Craig as well, great hire bike, good food, loads of cycling books and paraphernalia in the lounge, and then at night the red wine comes out. Perfect!
As far as the climb goes its steady enough, I seem to remember grinding up in 34x25 and 27 and I weigh about 85kgs.
Now I've done a bit more I'd love to go back.

napoleond · July 2012

Sold to the fat boy in glasses!

poweredbyidris · June 2013

A shameless bump for this thread because as Russ says above, good quality service should not go unrewarded.

Just had 4 magnificent days with Craig and Vicky at Veloventoux in Provence. A strong Mistral stopped an attempt on the Ventoux summit for the first 2 days, but there was still plenty of stunning riding to do with some challenging cols. Managed to get up the mountain on the 3rd day, which was without a doubt the best day both my wife and I have ever had on a bike.

But more than this, it was Craig and Vicky's organisation, knowledge, attention to detail and hospitality that made the trip. Within 5 minutes of arriving, we felt like we were staying at a mate's house rather than a guesthouse courtesey of a wonderfully relaxed and friendly atmosphere, and genuine enthusiasm for us to have a good time.

We had a home-cooked meal with the other guests on the first night, which was an excellent goat's cheese salad, lasagne and a creme brulee, Vicky's cooking is first class and probably the best thing we ate on our trip - no mean feat in Provence! Eating pizza from the pizza van on the lawn as the sun set was another great experience.

Beyond this, our room was huge and spotlessly clean, our hire bikes were waiting for us when we arrived, Craig's knowledge and mapped routes ensured that the cycling was as challenging as we wanted and took us through some of the most beautiful countryside, and nothing appeared to be too much trouble.

I will definitely be returning to VeloVentoux (The cingles club and the beer fridge are calling!) and I am jealous of anyone who is staying with them when the TdF rolls through town come July.

If you've got any questions, feel free to ask

Lee

philbar72 · July 2013

Hi, i'm looking to climb ventoux late august, but the website is down, be interested in getting some ideas together.

craigenty · July 2013

philbar72 wrote:

Hi, i'm looking to climb ventoux late august, but the website is down, be interested in getting some ideas together.

Hey up. Just doing some site maintenance - be back up after lunch.

Cheers,

VeloVentoux - In Praise of Quality Service - Mont Ventoux

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