De Kale Berg fietsen op en rond de Mont Ventoux

Mont Ventoux: A PBP pre-ride

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Categorie: Stories

Gemaakt op maandag 14 november 2011 19:00

Laatst bijgewerkt op donderdag 05 april 2012 21:08

Gepubliceerd op maandag 14 november 2011 19:01

Geschreven door Paul Rozelle

Long return flights from France result in long ride reports. Here’s a report of my pre-PBP proceedings.

Mont Ventoux: Why?

A lot of people asked me why I was climbing Mont Ventoux four times on a fixed-gear bike just three days before starting Paris-Brest Paris. Most inquired with some degree of bewilderment, like, “Why ever would you do something like that?” by which they meant, I think, that what I was going to do wouldn’t be any fun, I’d likely not succeed, and in the process I’d seriously jeopardize the likelihood of completing PBP. I have a greatly over-developed sense of adventure. How do you explain that?

There’s a nice medal for climbing Mont Ventoux by all three paved routes in one day, and an even more elite recognition conquering those climbs plus the unpaved forest road. That’s 116 miles and more than 19,000 feet of climbing (and descending), including two HC climbs plus an unpaved route on a mountain known for its bad weather. As far as I know, this had never been done on a fixed-gear bike.

Fame and glory (and masochism) aside, I believe that just about anything that can be done on a geared bike can be done on a fixed-gear. Ventoux has been climbed by fixed-gear riders before. It was probably the usual means of ascent for a long time, but that was so long ago that most people have forgotten. I wanted to restore some of that memory and perhaps inspire people to push their own limits in cycling. Doing both Ventoux and PBP in the same week would help make the point in a more extreme fashion: if this can be done on a fixed-gear bicycle, then tell me what, exactly, cannot?