Piled in the corner of a folding table at the Carpentras flea market: a lifetime of randonneuring accomplishment. Spanning 1965 to 1985, M. RICHARD, Louis to his friends, was a member of multiple cycling clubs, though mostly rode with the Excelsior Club of Marseille. He was fond, like many of us, of the flèche vélocio. His 500km routes were particularly ambitious, though the card photographed was closer to the minimum 360km. Louis and his team departed Plan d'Aups, east of Marseilles, at 8pm, Friday of Easter weekend, 1968. They travelled northeast, through the night, to St Maximin before heading west towards Martigues, Arles and Alès. Around sunrise they crossed the Pont du Gard, the sun at their backs, riding on to Barjac, then Orange, before finishing for dinner in L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue Among the trinkets, a number of audax medals, and a brevet card from the 1971 edition of Paris-Brest-Paris Audax. At the bottom of the heap, a short stack of circa-1960s Brevet des Provinces Françaises cards, some completed, others not yet. FFCT, now FFVelo, still homologates "BCN-BPF" tours, and a map of now required site can be found here: https://veloenfrance.fr/defis/bcn-bpf Looking at that map we see that Louis had an alternate motivation for his flèche route: He was working on a "Brevet Cyclotouriste Nationale", designing his course to cover the BCN controls of Sainte-Baume, Martigues, Arles, Uzes, La Roque-sur-Cèze and Pernes-les-Fontaines. Also pictured, a populaire card dated April 7th, 1968 and issued by Le Cyclotouriste of Lyon, said to be the oldest cycle touring club in France. A few years back, Jenn and I stumbled upon their office on a ride from Paris to Toulouse, via Burgundy and Auvergne. Their old sign still hangs above the door at their new location a few blocks from the address on the card.
Made the full trip to IKEA again. I think this will be the last time for a long while. The mistral winds picked up early today and I had the pleasure of fighting them all the way back. Upon my return I swung by Saint Marc, Caromb’s large and friendly cooperative wine maker for and the second blue box of the day, a 3L cube of dry, easy drinking, rosé. As I rode into town, barricades were being m erected for the Friday evening event, a moules frites fundraiser for the village sporting club. I do sport. I eat garlicky shellfish and fried potatoes.
The fiber internet guy is scheduled to arrive this morning to free us from the oppression of using one bar of 4G internet through 20 inch thick stone walls. I popped over to Beaumes-de-Venise for bad coffee and a better Pain Suisse, and then explored a few of the roads above the village. Rides like this remind me how good the Black Mountain Monstercross is at “Uh, let’s see where this goes”. Today the answer was “nowhere”, across roads realistically best traversed with a donkey
Got out for a quick and climby ride this morning before staking out a spot under a plane tree, high on the wall in the yard of the village's 14th century church, to wait for the Tour de France riders to pass. The crowd trickled in, we poured beers into jars. The caravan rolled though and soon after, with a honk, a buzz and a woosh, the breaks and the peloton careened down Caromb's narrow ring road and hooked a right towards Crillon Le Brave, Bedoin and their finish for the day at the top of Mont Ventoux
With a Tour de France stage finishing at the top of Mont Ventoux tomorrow, today was the perfect day to ride up one of the paved ascents as traffic is restricted to cyclists, services and residents most of the way. The last few miles are reserved exclusively for bicycle and pedestrian use. Bedoin was going to be a mess (it’s the tour route), that left Maulucene. The day started with rain, but by the time we left to fetch ride snacks from the bakery the clouds had parted and roads were drying out. The atmosphere on the ride up was festive, with far more riders than usual for a Monday. There were notably fewer folks milling around the summit, and obviously the parking lot was empty, but there we plenty of happy cyclists. We briefly descended the Bedoin side, but turned around after a mile or so. Between the riders, walkers, and Le Tour service vehicles it was clear the Maulucene descent would be both faster and a lot more fun. By the time we arrived back home the signage and barriers were going up for tomorrow’s race, and the road below the house was a constant stream of cyclists.
The first few miles from Bedoin are on the paved D974. From there, turn onto a bright white gravel road and ride around the barrier shooing away motorists. No part of the next 20km will be smooth sailing. There will occasionally be a brief section of pavement, but it won't be any better than the dirt. Baseball size chunks of limestone litter the route, and deep sandy grooves come and go. The dirt road, like the paved road, is steep, and the climb is relentless, easing only for the last kilometer before reconnecting with the smooth paved route from Maulucene for the final 5km to the summit. On a hot July day the additional shade afforded by this route, versus Bedoin, was welcome, the "lunar" landscape starting 3km or so from the top on this side The summit was a madhouse, not surprising as the road closes to motorists tomorrow, and a Tour de France stage will finish here on Tuesday. We didn't mill around in the shoulder to shoulder crowd, instead heading down via Maulucene, past the small reservoir lake above town, and back home.
You don’t need big tires to have fun here, and almost no riders do, but show up with 42mm+ and you’ll have more opportunities for spontaneity Most of these roads are empty. Except for some D9xx connector roads there weren’t more than a handful of cars, just a few tractors. While wide tires are optional, wide gearing is a must have for rides like this with substantial sections of 15%+ grades of broken pavement.
Red terracotta roofs, sun bleached stone walls, dusty vineyard lanes. But the IKEA is still blue. Jenn and I made a multi modal run out to the big blue box in Avignon for some home essentials. Between bikes, trains and deliveries we’re slowly getting the place furnished. The electricity is finally fully functional, but internet service is still in process. Update: The furniture delivery did not go as expected. You see, in the 1400s some fancy this or that built a big wall around their castle and installed a big gate. In 1792, some folks from the next village over decided they'd had enough of that castle and tore it down, though the gate survives and remains the only passage wide enough for a van to drive though. Unfortunately IKEA's delivery partner did not bring a van. No, they brought a giant box truck that did not fit through the aforementioned 15th century passage. They offer that they could either take all the stuff away, or drop it in the street and we could sort it out. We chose the later, and sorted it out.
We’re back, and we’ll be back again, because we bought this house. Perched upon the rampart of Caromb, a lively village between Mont Ventoux and Les Dentelles de Montmirail, it has three compact levels and a cellar. The cellar is, well, rustic, but the rest is nice. Built in 1880, it’s one of the newer structures in the village center. So… what are y’all doing before PBP 2027?
Pre-departure spin on the Poudre River, Spring Creek and Mason trails. We’ll miss summer in Fort Collins yet again, but see y’all in the fall! Updates: We made it to Zurich. The bikes did not. Thanks Swiss Airlines. Sigh.
