Mount Ventoux is a beast of a climb
July 27th, 2009 by Aleksandar
I am getting ready to leave France to go home to Denmark where I will be racing the danish champs at the half ironman distance.
My stay here in France was my second one. I was in France for the first time last year.
Since then I have fallen quite a bit in love with this wonderful country and especially the part I am staying in, Provence.
If you ever come to this part of France you can’t help but notice Mount Ventoux.
It’s the biggest mountain here and is looking over Provence. If you are cyclist it is as if the mountain talks to you; ” I dare you to climb me”, it seems to say.
It’s not just any climb. Mount Ventoux is the climb where Tom Simpson died from excautions. Many other legends have been written on the slopes of the 23.1 km long climb.
I have done the climb many times now and it really is a beast.
Above you can see how steep the avg. gradient is for each kilometer.
The view from the top is unforgettable..simple fantastic with the alps on one side and Massif Central on the other side.
At the top there are plenty of little shops where you can buy all kinds of candy, but be aware – it is very expensive but i does look fantastic and I have often been happy that they don’t take Visa.
The record.
If you ever get the chance to climb Mount Ventoux the target time is 56 minutes set by Iban Mayo..If you get within 20 minutes of this then you can consider yourself a legend.
Personally the climb is too long for me to want to do it but some day I will try, because the mountain is daring me: “How fast can you climb me?”
