Warm up for the Ventoux
Today the group trip was over. We had a nice "last supper" and celebrated Todd's birthday.
Seven riders headed for the airport this morning while Howie and myself headed south to Mt. Ventoux. Our drive took a little over three hours with a food stop for essentials (see photo) and a few nature breaks. We arrived at Crillon Le Brave after sandwiches in Carpentras.
As we drove, we noticed the winds were picking up. By the time we arrived in Crillon Le Brave, it was blowing at least 20 mph and gusting higher. A bit foreboding for our climb up the Ventoux tomorrow.
As readers know, Nel, our tour leader, designed our group warm-up route up Mont du Chat. The length and steepness of that ride redefined "warm up". Knowing that we'd be tackling the Ventoux tomorrow, we asked ourselves not "what would Brian Botano do?" (ref: Southpark: the Movie) but "what would Nel do?" And not wanting to let our departed riders down, we pulled out our maps, my Garmin and decided that regardless of the headwinds, we should tackle the Col de la Madeleine not once, but twice! (see photos for documentation).
We headed out of Crillon le Brave for Vaison La Romaine up the the Madeleine and then through many back roads across vineyards arriving in Vaison La Romaine after a quick stop in Entrechaux. In Entrechaux, we had to deal with another "deviation". The main road was closed so we "Garmined" our way with the help of a young mother in a pattiserie. In Vaison La Romaine we searched out the amphitheatre as Howie has a friend with a house directly across. We took the "quick way" back to Crillon...with the wind at our back.
Tonight we'll eat our our hotel which is a solid notch up in luxury. Nice way to close out the trip since tomorrow after the Ventoux we're at an efficient airport hotel.
