Chalet Reynard one hour before storm impact
| This Friday the Team Jos – Nike Courage completed an eventful Tour du ALS climbing Mont Ventoux in France. It was a very hard day that made the 10 of us see very cold downhill close to zero degrees, hot and humid uphill and culminated with a strong storm that made the organization close last 6 kilometers of the mountain. Take a look how it went after the link. | Nesta sexta-feira, o time Jos – Nike Courage completou o evento Tour du ALS, subindo o Mont Ventoux 3 vezes na França. Foi um dia muito duro que fez os 10 participantes enfrentar descidas muito frias perto de zero graus, calor e humidade nas subidas e terminou com uma tempestade que fez a organização fechar o acesso ao topo da montanha. Dá uma olhada depois do link como foi. |
START OF THE RACE BEFORE SUNRISE
We woke up at 4:00 and left at 4:30 to the start of the race. A 40 minutes car drive and we were ready for the start of the race even before the sun was out. This year the race started outside Bedoin, the official start of the Tour de France climbs of Mont Ventoux. We left just before 6 am for a 13 kms ride before hitting the bottom of them mountain.
From that point on the group separated into small units because everyone needs to climb in their own speed. It was very cold but the famous 10 kms above 10 degrees gradients made everybody warm up quiet quickly. I was with a group of 5 but got dropped. I wasn’t feeling well and couldn’t keep up the pedals turning easily.
I completed grueling first part until Chalet Reynard slowly and started feeling a bit better when getting close to the top. But all in all a good result as I’ve beaten my time from last year with 1 h 45 minutes climb. A 15 minutes quicker than last year.
Met Marc and Werner at the top and went down to Chalet Liotard, 6 kms from the top from the other side of the mountain. I waited for another 10 minutes for the others in the team but it was so cold waiting on 5 degrees celsius I started shivering. The downhill to the bottom of the mountain was very cold and I had to break most of the time because it was too cold. I was trembling on the bike and when finally reach the bottom, I could hardly steer it.
We turn around and started climbing back the mountain from Maulacene. This was the part of the day that I had most problems last year but I new what was coming. After the first 10 minutes I started feeling better as I warmed up. I started climbing much better and could keep a good cadence all the way to the top. Even on the 3 kms that stays around 11 and 12% I managed to keep the pace. Total climbing time of 1 hour and 35 minutes. Very happy about it.
At the top I met Stef, Dolon, Marc and Werner and we went down back to Chalet Reynard and decided to wait for the rest of the team until the time to go down again and start the third and last climb of the day. We went down a bit later than the time due to a miscommunication but started the last climb 20 minutes later the the official start. At the bottom, Serkam that have joined us on the downhill, looked up and commented on the rainy clouds that was approaching. That was our clue to start the climb immediately.
At this point I wasn’t feeling well again and started having stomach cramps (I believe I ate too much at the waiting time). Even water was making my stomach turn around and I had to do the whole climb without eating or drinking. I could keep up a reasonable tempo but was dropped by Dolon and Stef (which at some point had to stop due to a mechanical problem). Half way to the top the storm hit us.
The rain was so cold that made my stomach cramps got worst and I couldn’t bring my heart rate above 150 bpm. When I got to Chalet Reynad, the water was streaming down the mountain quickly. Lightning was striking at the top of the mountain and the organization decided to close access. That was the end of the climb for me and from our group only Dolon managed to pass the barrier before the access was closed.
Cold, shivering and in pain, I asked to go inside the car or Werner and rest for a minute. That made a difference and feeling a bit better, we talked to the organization and decided that the day was closed. Even the people that were already on the top were not allowed to cycle back. They had to wait a van to pick them up and bring back to the bottom. We didn’t have that chance.
Stef, Martin and I decided to go down to Bedoin very slowly. It was so cold and there was so much water was coming down that the breaks were not working well. We had to stop two times to warm our hands on our arm pits to be able to break and continue descending. We hit the bottom and moved to the starting place. Feeling warm and a bit better, we push hard to the parking lot, going around 50 kms/h. With the finish in sight, Stef ambushed me and sprinted to the line on the last 20 meters, leaving me behind.
The rest of the team made down in similar fashion, and despite the fact that only Dolon was allowed to climb the last 6 kms, we all felt we did a good job. We all managed to get to Chalet Reyndard and climb for the ALS. A good cause that deserve the effort and sacrifice of that day. See below the pictures of the day before and the race day.
But this is not the end of the job. The fundraising for the ALS institute will continue until end of July when we will do the Etape du Tour and continue bringing awareness for the fight against this terrible disease.
PREP DAY
FROM LEFT: ME, STEF, DOLON, SERKAM AND MARTIN
GORGE DE LA NESQUE, A BEATIFUL CLIMB
THE DAY
TOM AND JOHN ON THE FIRST CLIMB
TOP OF VENTOUX BEFORE THE STORM
SECOND CLIMB DONE AND PREPARING FOR THE THIRD
CHALET REYNARD, 6 KMS FRO THE TOP FROM BEDOIN SIDE
MONT VENTOUX AT THE DISTANCE BEING HIT BY STORM
STEF HAPPY TO BE OUT OF THE RAIN. BUT FORGOT THE HELMET AT THE TOP
MILESTONE FROM THE HARDST KILOMETER OF THE DAY
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