Yeah, did my first non-UK sportive on Monday - and what an event!! 9500 cyclists blasting their way around a fantastic course - smooth roads, great views, wonderful roadside encouragement from all nationalities, and generally good road etiquette from most (but not all) participants. A few nasty accidents and at least one in which I doubt the casualty will be riding his bike for some time to come.
The Ventoux heat was brutal. Having arrived at Bedoin 1h10m up on my schedule I briefly toyed with the idea of getting a silver medal for my age category, but after a few Kms into the Ventoux climb I soon dismissed that idea from my mind. Instead it was a game of survival - with plenty of stops in the shade to get my body temperature down. In the end I did the climb with about 12 "cool down" stops and at 1h8m longer than schedule, beating my planned total schedule time by 1m51s. There were plenty of cyclists puking in the verge, several having passed out or resting in the shade, and the ever present sound of ambulance sirens - the climb was a scene of total carnage, and IMO good reason for my own tactic of plenty of cool down stops. On a cooler day I'd like to try and climb it non-stop, cos' in my view none of the gradients were insurmountable.
