I Did It!

Queen of the mountain.  Today I biked Mont Ventoux.  Delia and Jackie graciously agreed to take me to Sault in order for me to bike the mountain from there, about an hour away.  26 kilometers uphill the whole way; people have died trying to climb it, I have and old bike and a body that's taken on the Hilly Hundred but I didn't even think I was going to make it the whole way.  I was shaky with a tinge of fear, lack of sleep and a small breakfast when I headed out from the lavander valley of Sault to tackle the uphill battle of the mountain passes; Jackie even said she had a stomach ache just thinking about me doing it.  

It started off well and I only had a slight problem with a fender at the beginning.  The weather was nice, warm even. Then this lowlander had to deal with a little something called altitude which left me huffing and puffing.  I biked through lunch, taking quick rests to catch my breath and get a drink of water.  My pedals were creaking and my bike doesn't have low enough gears for mountain climbing which added to the challenge.  You never plateau it is a constant incline battle.  As I got closer to the summit it dramatically changed.  It doubled in incline and it began to look like an alien planet instead of a wooded mountain range, the wind began to push on me and I could feel my skin getting hot because of the sun.  I held my bottle up to take a drink only to have it whistle in return.  I passed the memorial for the man who had died climbing to the top, la fontaine de la grave and pushed myself to finish those horrible last 5km of the climb watching the snow banks and fighting the wind as I neared the summit.  I couldn't work my legs anymore, but I finished.  Yeah!  I biked up Mont Ventoux!  -and there was much rejoicing-

We had a late picnic lunch lower down on the mountain and we returned to Sault to look around at all of the lavander products.  Returning home we were all happy because none of us thought that I was actually going to climb the whole thing.  Daniel greeted me as the champion and took a picture and started singing a 'rocky-esque' song.  We celebrated with some cava and talked about our crazy day.  Would I ever do it again...no, but am I super glad I achieved my goal, of course!  Boom!