In June, 8 members of Sherston Velo headed down to Provence for a long weekend of cycling around Mont Ventoux.

 

Despite the combined best efforts of Easyjet and the striking (quelle surprise...) French Air Traffic Controllers, we made it 1300km South in two cars on Saturday 16th June. We stayed in the very comfortable, and aptly named, Villa Grimpeur in the town of Malaucène at the Western foot of the mountain. 

 

On Sunday, despite the long drive, everyone headed out for the summit. Some were attempting the "Cinglés du Mont Ventoux" challenge of riding all 3 road climbs in one day, others just happy to ride up or improve on previous attempts. 

Five riders completed the Cinglé challenge, and the other three riders had successful days with 4 summits between them.

 

Monday saw three different ride choices - the Cinglé 5 widely choosing a picturesque loop South to take in the beautiful forests and gorges of Gordes and Fontaines de Vaucluse. The others took various routes to the summit via Sault, and then back down again.

​

Below is a selection of photos taken during the rides, and the all-important après-ride, where Malaucène's popularity with Belgians meant all of our spring training with strong Belgian beers came in handy, with various flavours of La Chouffe, Karmeliet Tripel and Vedett undoing all the good that the riding had done us.