Allez! Allez! Allez! II

Hautacam

Height 1520m Ascent 1040m in 13km Average gradient of 8%

We made our way to Argelès Gazost, up to D100 to the carpark of Carrefour Argelès Gazost. There were several big groups of cyclists on the same road so we knew we were on the right direction. While Iain had a head start, I went into Carrefour to get food (I love supermarket shopping!). 

After conquering Col du Tourmalet, Hautacam is "small" challenge, but by no means less formidable.

Hautes-Pyrénées
(Source: http://www.letour.com/le-tour/2014/us/stage-18.html)

Hautacam was where Cadel Evans wore the yellow jersey for the first time in his career with a 1 second lead over Fränk Schleck in 2008. In 2014, as the penultimate stage, the steep slopes of Hautacam provided the perfect opportunity for Thibaut Pinot to attack and leapfrogged Alejandro Valverde to second place (or as Phil Liggett would have put it "Pinot was dancing on his pedals while Valverde stopped and cycled backwards").

The first part of the route up Hautacam was shaded. I had a chance to stop by a tiny waterfall outside the village of Artalens-Souin and cheered whoever rode by.

With less than 7km to go, there was hardly any shade.

Iain cycling in the sweltering heat

The scenery was awesome nonetheless.

On the way up Hautacam

What is wrong with my bike?

At 1520m, one reaches the "summit" of Hautacam - the point where Tour de France mostly stops due to practical logistics reasons (such as a carpark and a big enough space to set up stage). There is in fact, still some way to go up to the summit.

Tour de France formally stops here

Mont Ventoux

Height 1912m Ascent 1690m in 21km Average gradient of 7%

From Tarbes, we bade farewell to the French Pyrénées and drove through Toulouse to Avignon. The mountains disappeared and we were greeted by old viaducts, castles and fields of sunflowers.

Field of sunflowers

The city walls of old Avignon

From Avignon, we reached out to the French Alps. Iain picked up his rental bicycle at Bédoin, at the bottom of Mont Ventoux.

Mont Ventoux is located between a Alpine massif to the north and Mediterranean massifs to the south. The bottom of Mont Ventoux has a mixture of oaks, pines and cedars and is home to golden eagles, viperine snakes and chamois, to name a few. Vegetation stops at about 1500m but 60 rare flora species manage to survive on the summit. In 1990, the rich and diverse flora and fauna microclimates and habitats of Mont Ventoux made it to UNESCO's list of protected biosphere. 
(Source: http://www.unesco.org/mabdb/br/brdir/directory/biores.asp?mode=all&code=FRA+06)

Summit of Mont Ventoux and the meteorological station

Where the vegetation stops, the bald limestone summit loomed. Mont Ventoux's distinctive summit and now-defunct meteorological station have perhaps made it on every cycling magazine in the world. 'Ventoux' means 'windy' in French and the sun bouncing off the limestones would make the last stage of the ride really hot - a double whammy. We were really lucky it was not too windy when we were on Mont Ventoux. While is was hot, maybe it was because we have acclimatised, it was not as hot as we envisaged.

An old road marker

There were a lot of cycling enthusiasts as usual, with a good mix of young upstarts and old. In addition, joggers and some novices (such as children in their small bicycles who had to be pushed up the hill by adults and others who could not keep to one side of the road and had to zigzag up the slopes) made driving really precarious. In 1990, it was estimated about 600,000 people cycled up the mountain each year (Source: http://www.unesco.org/mabdb/br/brdir/directory/biores.asp?mode=all&code=FRA+06).

In the initial stage, the trees provided some respite from the heat. Soon, the bald summit appeared and taunted us from afar.

Another slog up the the bend with Mont Ventoux taunting from afar

Exercise prudence - 'cos that's how steep it is

So near yet so far

I am not sure if it was because we were closer to the Tour de France or the bigger turn out as compared to Col du Tourmalet and Hautacam, I could not help but feel that there were also more arrogant cyclists on Mont Ventoux – them in expensive gears, do not acknowledge when you cheer them on and tear down the mountains in top speed. I could not see any reason why there is any need to put one’s life at risk by going downhill and around corners at more than 80kmph when professional cyclists misjudge corners and go over barriers. Surely not everyone is a Romain Bardet making a lone breakaway with the whole peloton chasing him down.

Allez! Allez! Allez?

No. Chill, people. Chill.