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Cycling up Mont Ventoux (Done July 20th 2009)


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Mont Ventoux (the Giant of Provence) is the most gruelling stage of the tour de france. it isnt the longest climbing stage and it isnt the steepest either, but at 21 km and with a 10% gragient it is by far the toughest. An English tour de France rider died on this stage (so has a tourist)

 

It starts in a village called Bedoin which is 26km from my house and climbs 23 km from the village although the stage is 21 km.

 

In September if I can get fit enough I will attempt to ride it. I have started training on a 6km climb which is 18 km away from my house, I have done this several times. Today I did my first training assault on the "giant", I rode there (which is a gentle uphill climb all the way and then rode up it for 1 hour 20 minutes I probably only did 7 or 8 km of the 21, but given that I am not a light weight (au contraire) I didnt have a low enough gear to take the strain out of the climb, so I had to turn back. Nonetheless I spent 4hrs 45mins in the saddle in the heat of provence, so as a training excersize I did ok. I will need to repeat this twice a week, and lose weight to be able to attempt the whole climb without killing myself in September when I will be 52.

 

I added this to my bucket list (along with flying on Concorde and driving on the Nurburgring Nordschliefe) but dont want it to be the event that brings forward the bucket kicking date.

 

I will occasionally post updates and photos. Tomorrow I am going to meet a former cycle racer (who owns a shop near me) to looking into a bike with custom gearing.

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That's awesome Z. I've been trying to lose weight and get back in shape lately (I've let myself go big time) and mountain biking has been a big thing for me, so I understand (sort of) the trials that go with biking uphill. Good luck, and don't forget to post photos! I'd love to tour the French countryside one day, but now I can just live vicariously through you :)

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When you 1st mention the ride I just thought ?Zeno has been on the veno IPB Image? which if I remember correctly you had been.:lol:

 

 

Mont Ventoux (the Giant of Provence) is the most gruelling stage of the tour de france. it isnt the longest climbing stage and it isnt the steepest either, but at 21 km and with a 10% gragient it is by far the toughest.An English tour de France rider died on this stage (so has a tourist)

 

As you know you have our full support on your hill climb, but just in case which would you prefer

 

IPB Image IPB Image

 

Sorry mate couldn?t resist :P

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Mont Ventoux (the Giant of Provence) is the most gruelling stage of the tour de france. it isnt the longest climbing stage and it isnt the steepest either, but at 21 km and with a 10% gragient it is by far the toughest. An English tour de France rider died on this stage (so has a tourist)

 

It starts in a village called Bedoin which is 26km from my house and climbs 23 km from the village although the stage is 21 km.

 

In September if I can get fit enough I will attempt to ride it. I have started training on a 6km climb which is 18 km away from my house, I have done this several times. Today I did my first training assault on the "giant", I rode there (which is a gentle uphill climb all the way and then rode up it for 1 hour 20 minutes I probably only did 7 or 8 km of the 21, but given that I am not a light weight (au contraire) I didnt have a low enough gear to take the strain out of the climb, so I had to turn back. Nonetheless I spent 4hrs 45mins in the saddle in the heat of provence, so as a training excersize I did ok. I will need to repeat this twice a week, and lose weight to be able to attempt the whole climb without killing myself in September when I will be 52.

 

I added this to my bucket list (along with flying on Concorde and driving on the Nurburgring Nordschliefe) but dont want it to be the event that brings forward the bucket kicking date.

 

I will occasionally post updates and photos. Tomorrow I am going to meet a former cycle racer (who owns a shop near me) to looking into a bike with custom gearing.

 

Zeno, I'm impressed and intrigued by your efforts. I don't know much about the Tour De France stages but am a biker myself. My background is in mountain bike riding/racing. I raced at the Expert/Pro level for a couple years up and down the East Coast here in the U.S. My family also put on a series of mountain bike events for about 10 years on our family owned 400 acres of property. That was ended back in 2001 when my mother was killed in a car accident. Nowadays I still ride and in fact this year I'm riding more road rides on my Cannondale CAAD8 road bike than ever. I'm set to ride a 50 miler on Sunday and a couple days ago I rode 44 miles at a 16mph average pace. I look forward to the hearing more about your adventures. Hill Repeats once per week at carefully precise times will get your legs and lungs into climbing shape. I still can climb very well due to the routine hill climbs I used to do in my racing days. My typical training session was to ride a warmup of 25 minutes, then do about 8-10 hill repeats (3/4 mile long hill) and then a 20 minute cool down. The days immediately before and after I used to unwind or ride slowly to get rid of the lactic acid buildup in my muscles. It's all relative but that 3/4 mile hill was steep and long for the type of hills I was training for.

 

Best of luck Zeno, sounds like you have a good plan.

Edited by THS_Tritonb
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Well me for one thought Zeno looks a lot young than 52, i also would like to wish you well with the bike training, i also have bought myself a 2nd hand bike and been going out for rides around the country lanes near me . i was a bit woobly at first as i have not ridden a bike for many years, but i must say i am enjoying it now and was out for 90 mins the other day. :thumbsup_anim:

 

IPB Image

 

The Discovery range are all equipped with alloy frames as standard for a light & fast ride. The frame has mounting points for mudguards & carriers so you can adapt the bike to your needs. Quick release wheels using alloy rims & hubs keep the revolving weight to a minimum. The gears are 21 speed Shimano TX50 with EZ Fire trigger shifters. These give a rapid & precise change of gear in ratios to suit tarmac & light trail riding. Comfort is a high priority so we include a reach adjusting handlebar stem, super soft grips & sure grip pedals.

Edited by Snowshoe
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I was once passed by an old lady on a bike going uphill in Spain, she wafted past me effortlessly. then I looked down and her legs werent moving, it was an electric bike. But now mine will probably be a racing bike, I am going to try one out tomorrow.

 

I will be careful Zath, my self defence mechanism prevents me from damaging myself.

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I was once passed by an old lady on a bike going uphill in Spain, she wafted past me effortlessly. then I looked down and her legs werent moving, it was an electric bike. But now mine will probably be a racing bike, I am going to try one out tomorrow.

 

I will be careful Zath, my self defence mechanism prevents me from damaging myself.

 

 

Zeno, I found the perfect way we can all live vicarously through you... :P

 

Buy one of these: https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?pID=331&locale=en_US and then you can upload your workouts to MotionBased.com 's website and it will show your detailed routes , even map them in Google Earth.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Ok I ordered my bike today, an MBK RTB600.It has a 50, 39, 30 chain ring and 11-25 rear set (30gears), I may change the low gear to 27 (the biggest the rear derailleur can take). I am also looking into changing the 30 to a 28.

 

In France the have three main types of bike

 

Velo course - racing Bike

Velo tout terrain - Mountain bike

Velo tout chemin - I think they are know as Hybrids.

 

Mine is in the latter and RTB stands for road training bike.

 

I should have my new bike early next week.

 

When I train in switzerland I use a Trek mountain Bike, last week I did some interval training up a short hill near me a couple of times.

 

I went out for a 4 1/2 hour ride with the shop keeper and an old gym friend and they took me to one of the steepest inclines in the region (18%). Although it doesnt last very long (2 bends on a hill) He told me if I could do this I should be able to climb anywhere. It was excrutiatingly difficult but I managed to do it on a mountain bike I had borrowed from him, so thats encouraging. I had an unusual ache on the side of my right knee, but that has gone, he said this may have come from the narrower pedals he had fitted to the bike.

 

Despite this I will not be in good enough shape for the climb anywhere near my birthday and later in the year the mountain is often closed, so this project may be pushed to May next year.

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ON thing u need to be aware of is your knees. If your knee has an unnatural ake then u need to slow down imidiatly. U are to old to just ignore it cos it will be something u will regret for the rest of your life.

 

Remember when peddling u put al the force from your thigh muscle and your weight through your knees to the peddles and if your knee legiments are not used to it they will tear. Not all the way but enough to create a lot of pain.

A really good method is actually going to the gym 3 or 4 times a week and do some leg ecxercises just enough to get the knees started again.

 

 

 

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LOL, I may be an old fart Ulrich, but I have been going to the gym for years, I have done 880 lb leg presses (400kg) when I was 50, my quads are very strong, not so the calf muscles. The ache came from mispositioning the foot due to different pedal set up. But thanks for the concern, its warranted, I'm actually very protective of my knees.

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I worked on that for 4 weeks. 200kg, 300kg, 350kg were all pretty easy. At 400kg I sat in the machine prepared myself, took in huge lungfuls of air and then pushed my legs up really hard. Nothing.. it didnt come off the stops. But my friends in the gym, actually everyone in the gym came around and cheered me on. At all the lower weights they just shot up. This time they went really slowly but once they started to move I knew I could do it and ended up doing 5 reps. I thought about working to 1000lbs but thought I was working towards an injury. As it was I still did a 1 hour workout afterwards..

 

I am disproportionately strong in my legs, which is the only reason I would consider doing Mt. Ventoux. Sadly my arms are not proportionally as strong as my legs and the most I have ever benched (although I did that at 50 as well) was 242 lbs (110 kg).

 

In my gym my leg press was the record weight for a non steroid/testosterone boosted individual. The record was 800kg 0r 1,760lbs. He benched such big weights all our heavy bars were curved.

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OK I am just very conserned about knees cos thats what ruined my career on the bike. Now i am getting back on but i know that i won´t be able to push myself as much as i used to because i need to think about my knees.

 

Now get up that mountain and get it over with. Its only a couple of hours of pain.

 

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I hear you Thoms, I stopped skiing when I put on weight, to protect my knees. I have never had a major knee injury apart from a dislocation at school (which I reset myself). Knees never recover.

 

The mountain is off for this year but its a delay not a cancellation, lol.

 

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