Ventouxs

[BrokeButt]

Hope everyone's all prepped for PBP now!

If anyone's interested in something a little different and novel; My friend and I came down to Bedoin the week before PBP. Yesterday we did the Bicingles option of http://www.clubcinglesventoux.org

To complete it you have to summit Ventoux by the 3 main routes, twice each in 24 hours. When you enter they send you a placard to attach to your bike and a brevet card which you get stamped at the town at the start of each ascent and the summit. Then you send it off to be validated and they send you back a big shiny medal!

I think most audaxers could do it, however it's a good challenge and takes some determination to complete. It was pretty warm in the arvo at 38 degrees. But I'm not complaining. The scenery was beautiful and it was cool riding in the middle of the day with thousands if other cyclists taking on the mountain.

Anyway, I really enjoyed the challenge. I'd recommend it.

Here's my ride http://app.strava.com/activities/366089073

[BrokeButt]

That's awesome. My partner's trying to do the 3x tomorrow.

[hillbilly]

Ah, so the bicingles is 6 times up Ventoux.

Nutters.

 

[citoyen]

Nutters.

Cinglé is French for nutter, innit.

[mattc]

Like "Everesting", I love hearing about people doing this stuff, and I wish you many more bonkers days on your bike.

But it's got almost nothing to do with Audax !!!

[BrokeButt]

Isn't it? You're on a bike and you get a brevet card  I thought of it as a kind of foreign perm

[mattc]

Isn't it?

If you're going to argue with me, please get your grammar sorted,  there's a good chap.

[Peter]

Sorted OUT, there's a good chap!

[Jethro]

A very well done from me.

Just the one climb from Bedoin a couple of weeks ago was enough for me and my mate.

Interestingly, the Hotel Blueberry in Malaucene was a very good choice and comes highly recommended for future aspirants.

[mattc]

Sorted OUT, there's a good chap!

I tend to get lazy on the 'web. Soz!

[BrokeButt]

Hey, those excuses didn't fly for me 

My partner just completed 3 Ventoux's this afternoon.

http://www.strava.com/activities/367353371

I'm actually finding it hard to believe it. When we moved to Cambridge 2 years ago she could barely ride a bike and has no history of aerobic sport. She did awesome!

[Martin]

Like "Everesting", I love hearing about people doing this stuff, and I wish you many more bonkers days on your bike.

But it's got almost nothing to do with Audax !!!

apart from the fact that there are 2 AUK perms which do 2 of the 3 routes up; and also including DIYs which may do all 3 or even 6? I would say it has everything to do with Audax (the audacious version rather than the Long Distance version)

[mattc]

pfft. There are many audacious things - including bike rides - that are not audaxes. The Apollo programme. Skydiving. Unicycling across Niagara Falls. we'll have to agree to differ.

Oh but hang on,  I may as well check ...

Nope - turns out it isnt an Audax..

[Martin]

no but Cingles happens to be available (like many other rides) as an Audax as per Arrivee of a couple of years ago; as much so as the Iceland article in the current issue

[mattc]

but the op wasnt a ride of Cingles ...

[Martin]

but the op wasnt a ride of Cingles ...

half of it was   

anyway  I think it's a worthy challenge; not least because I haven't done / can't do it 

[BrokeButt]

I really don't mind either way, and I know you're being tongue in cheek However for the sake of debate:

Surely it's in the spirit of Audax UK...

Its a journey on a bike collecting proof of passage along the way.

Is it just because it's not sanctioned by AUK? Because that would rule out PBP along with many other iconic overseas events.

I'm sure I could have made it a DIY if I was interested in collecting points for it. Maybe not because it repeats itself?

And technically, isn't it the case that what you and I generally do in the UK and PBP aren't audax's but randonees? So maybe we've got you on a technicality there

As I understand it while our organisation in the UK is named after it, an audax is a slightly different type if cycling event that you probably haven't partaken in before

[LittleWheelsandBig]

To be more pedantic, the randonneur brevets homologated by AUK and those by ACP are a subset of the randonnees out there. Not every randonnee counts for points or has a time limit or even requires the participant to cycle.

[Aunt Maud]

Gotta love cycling and its little rules......Well done, looks like a nice ride.

[TigaSefi]

Doing this is an immense achievement. Well done! I have actually got the brevet and all of the bits and pieces to do it but was knackered early this year so only did Bedoin and Malaucene on separate days. Will think about nipping over to do this next year.

[3peaker]

Gotta love cycling and its little rules......Well done, looks like a nice ride.

The gps/DIY Perm revolution has diluted/expanded(?) what we (used to) define as Audax. With Audax, we pre-register with a UK-based Perm Organiser, do our ride and submit our PoPs. As an Organiser, I have the easiest of times to pre-Register but still submit my ride Brevets to the Perm Sec.

When I rode the (3x) Cingles in 2008, I rode on the strength of being in the area and ‘Discovering’ the Cingles challenge (No 2383). Others, inc 2 AAA-mad ladies, rode the Cingles in 2013(Nos 5016, 5017), and had the opportunity to pre-Register as DIY/gps. So, I missed possibly 4.5AAAs; but I did it for the quality of the ride and its ultimate challenge. (Did claim it for OCD!) Missing points is probably comparable to when I crossed the USA in 1995. It happens that we (RAF Exped of 3) crossed at Audax pace, another potential 51 points lost; but there again, the challenge and planning took over, with Audax not even spared a thought (apart from PBP95 providing excellent training). Now with DIY, would I be so neglectful?

Oh, and for any other Cingles, there is now a Jersey which is available on the Club du Cingles de Mt Ventoux website. http://www.ventoux-bikes.fr/produit_detail/textile/maillots--amp-textile-ventoux/cingles-du-ventoux-jersey--official/5-7-405-tri--recherche--id_marques-0.html

[plod]

what planning/logistics did it take, had you been to ventoux before? I've never been, would I be ill advised to try this blind?

Dan

[TigaSefi]

It can be done very easily. Just fly to Marseille and hire a car to Ventoux to a b&b place etc. Most of them will have locked garages for bikes. Then just climb the next day. Only logistics is knowing when to go. I would say late May and ALL of June is best time personally.

You can order your brevet here : http://www.clubcinglesventoux.org/en/ but I think it actually cheaper to buy it over there in a shop.

[3peaker]

what planning/logistics did it take, had you been to ventoux before? I've never been, would I be ill advised to try this blind?

Dan

My 1st Ventoux encounter was in 2000 on the Etape du Tour. We were 'iced off' at Chalet Renard', so I was determined to try again. In 2008 I entered a Sportif from Malaucene and noticed the Cingles notice in a LBS. Paid 15€ for the brevet and waited for the weather. I was in my Campervan and was on a walking holiday with my wife (just take the bike for an escape!). Others enter through the Cingles website. On the day I selected, started from Bedoin> Summit> Malaucene> Summit> Sault> Summit> Bedoin. Bedoin is the best descent and I had quiet roads late in the day - Bliss!

[sojournermike]

Well done indeed.

I am heading to Ventoux in a week or so and hope to ascend once or maybe twice. I may harbour the germ of a cingle, or possibly a galerian, but a bicingle is not even on the radar

fantastic show.

Mike