After a long 2 day drive to the south of France, we were all enthusiastic to see the sun a massive mountain on the horizon. The plan was to ride Mont Ventoux in the morning, before heading off to our villa in the afternoon. Me and Dad got up early on a hot sunny day, and set off in the direction of the mountain. Riding towards it was amazing, it was getting closer and closer until we were in Bedoin and it was right there. We stopped at the bottom by the official start before starting our 21 km journey to the top of the mountain.
The first 5 km weren’t too steep, and the mountain was just over my left shoulder. We turned left around the first hairpin and suddenly it picked up, this section is why Mont Ventoux is so hard! It was 10%, not steeper, no less. The kilometre signs by the road gave a good indication of where we were because I knew that we reached Chalet Reynard with 6 km to go. We rounded this exceptionally steep hairpin which we recognised from TV and continued our run to Chalet Reynard. When we got there Mum was there with a coat telling me I had to where it otherwise I’d freeze!
The final section is the most famous, where the name ‘bald mountain’ comes from. It was epic, the top seemed so near yet it was so far away, and the wind was slowly picking up as well. With a kilometre to go Dad said I could ride to the top on my own because he could tell that I was itching to sprint to the top. I did just that, though unfortunately Mum and Emma beat me to the top in the car! We stayed at the top for a short while before making the painful decision to leave and go back down the mountain.
The descent nearly ended very badly, the wind was so strong I nearly got blown off the road and down the mountain! The first few kilometres of descent was taken very carefully as the wind was strong, but once we were past Chalet Reynard it started to get fast. It was almost like a bobsleigh track, with the gentle turns and steep gradient, and was amazing to ride. Unfortunately it had to end, and when we did reach the bottom we paused before setting off towards Nice and our villa!