Mill Blog ♥

The Fireflies Tour - Day Seven: Carpentras to Manosque

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

"The Giant of Provence"

It was with a mixture of nerves and excitement that the Fireflies set off bright and early to face the biggest mountain of the tour - Mont Ventoux.  Ever since signing up for this year's ride, this is the one that had been keeping Alex awake at night - that, and Chris's snoring of course.  Lovingly referred to as the 'Giant of Provence', the summit is a massive 1912m high and it is widely regarded by cyclists across the world as one of the ultimate rides.

With only a short 10km stint until they hit the bottom of the mountain, the general mood amongst camp was that they were all going to "ride their guts out"!  A good time for the 22km ride is considered to be 2 hours and as the 35˚C sun shone down, they crossed the start line at Bédoin to begin the most famous and difficult ascent with one eye on the clock.

The mountain itself has very unusual geography with two-thirds of it shrouded by a thick blanket of forest and the other third completely exposed to the elements - in this case, the June sun and some of Europe's strongest winds.  It is even said that Napoleon built the Armada with trees from the mountain due to their remarkable strength and resistance to these winds, thus leaving a large section of forest missing from the top and creating a unique moonscape.

Making their way up the steep, brutal road, there was no let off as the sun beat down on the exposed mountain roads or even when they were trapped inside the thick forest curtain - a proper lung-buster!  In true Fireflies fashion, they cheered each other on as they pushed themselves to their physical limits. But one by one, they all proudly made it to the top.

Chris and Alex celebrate at the summit

There were emotional scenes with plenty of whooping, tears and Chris and Alex sharing a 'very significant man-hug'.  As well as a few glasses of bubbly, they were also rewarded with some amazing mountain-top views and an impromptu display from France's equivalent of the Red Arrows who roared overhead complete with blue-smoke billowing to pull some impressive aerobatic manoeuvres - what a welcome!

Both Alex and Chris put in absolutely fantastic times - Fireflies newbie Alex clocking in just under the magic 2 hour mark, and Chris steaming in with a sensational personal best of 1 hour 37 - not only beating his previous time by over 5 minutes, it was also the third quickest time of the day.  Amazing!!!

Alex stands victorious! ... and the view down the mountain road

As they hooned off down the mountain at breakneck speed, they headed in to Sault to enjoy some coffee and ice-cream, before starting a 70km romp through the beautiful lavender fields of Provence and onto the home straight.  The truly epic day drew to a close as the last group pulled into Manosque at 9pm, their final destination.  Phew!

Well done guys, you've done us proud!

STATS FROM THE DAY:
Distance: 155km
Ascent: 2010m
Temperature: 35˚C

If you would like to show your support for the guys with a donation, their fundraising pages are as follows:

Alex: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/fireflies2
Chris: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/ChrisBatten