Mont Ventoux Windy area

Climbing Mont Ventoux is for every cycling enthusiast like spending a moment in heaven, but you certainly have to pass through hell first. The Bédoin side is the toughest side. From Bédoin to Saint-Estève, the ride is quite pleasant. You see the mountain on the left and the vineyards on the right. Overconfident, you might think it won’t be too bad. But from the hairpin turn in Saint Estève, you’ll think differently. The road now shoots up the mountain with gradient percentages almost constantly above 10%. The annoying thing about this side is that you can hardly see anything. On the left and right, there’s just one big oak forest. Higher up, those are oaks, then spruce trees. But you see nothing. Nada. You only hear your own panting and you fixate on the next turn, fifty meters ahead, hoping that it will become a bit flatter afterward. Of course, it doesn’t get flatter. Not for a while, at least.
After that while, near some chalets, it does become flatter and even completely flat. You now arrive at Chalet Reynard and the large parking lot. Then it shoots back up the mountain. But now there are no more trees. Just wasteland. Just stones, left and right. And usually, a lot of wind. It can easily blow at 100 kilometers per hour here. And that wind is guaranteed to be against you. At the moment when you’re about to die, you are likely at the Col de Tempetes and the monument for Tom Simpson. I have never seen anyone give up here, but yet one of the toughest parts is still to come. You crawl upwards. And then there’s that last turn to the right. The road climbs those last 50 meters undoubtedly more than 15%, but this is a pleasure. And then you’re up and for a moment you are in heaven and can see all the way to the Mediterranean Sea. For a moment. Because if you wait too long, you’ll freeze, even in summer.

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