The mistral winds picked up early, though the walls of "La CoVe" are relatively protected. Picked off a couple off-track cols, Le Collet and Col du Cayron, but otherwise just tried to beat the rain back. I did not beat the rain back.
We arrived early at Maison Jouvaud to sit in the dimly lit interior and sip a café allongé while the Carpentras Friday market assembled. For a week we'd watched warm breeze melt the snow from the south western slope of Mont Ventoux. Finishing our coffee we collected our bread and set out to fetch supplies for the weekend: cheese, vegetables, preserved lemon olives, terrine. With rain in the forecast, this was the best, and last, chance to take a stab at Mont Ventoux, even knowing the road would be barricaded past Chalet Reynard. The climb is relentless, with few notable curves and nothing describable as a "break" until the outside switchbacks of the steepest sections allow plausible deniability of a zig zag. Past Chalet Reynard, hikers amble along the edge peering down to Provence below. A candy cane striped barricade reads "Route Barre". As we paused to layer up, a cyclist covered head-to-toe rounded the corner, and ducked under the barrier and informed us that the road is clear, and free of ice, but it is very very cold at the summit. Up we go.
It’s hard to avoid Ventoux. The snow cap and observatory loom around each corner and tower over every gorge. This ride was something of a mission to claim mountain passes. Eleven in all, eight novel, one passed twice, using unique roads.
Something to get done in Bedòin derailed previous plans, but still got in a ride past La Roque Alric, a tiny village built into the side of a rocky outcrop like a stony island in the sky.
I can not reason why we waited so long to ride this route. I suppose for the best weather day? 70F+ in the gorge most of the day with a cool breeze. The landscape is typically Provence in places, and dense forest in others. A short section of road was being navigated by several large trains of caterpillars The entirety of the gorge is largely traffic free, owing to the the narrow roads and the holes bored through the rock bearing signs shooing away vehicles exceeding 2.7 meters.
These two minor cols wrap up my Cent Cols, or one hundred unique mountain passes. A few days ago I ran my relevant ride history through the Cent Cols tracker (https://www.centcols.org/membres/cols/tracecols.php), which returned ninety eight of one hundred. I'd been under the weather lately, but wanted to finish that off, so we found the two closest, both unfortunately unsigned, and rode them. Stats breakdown - 41 new cols since January 1 2025 - 21 ridden on the 2024 tour - 7 during the Colorado High Country 1000k pre-ride - 17 leading up to PBP 2023 - 14 others across other random rides - 21 over 2000 meters, 17 of those in Colorado. It helps when most rides start at nearly that.
There’s a road rally this weekend and the hills are a buzz with the burble of race cars. I need to sort out which roads will be closed and route around them. Several new cols and a view of Mont Ventoux. Col de la Madeleine was unsigned, some maps also have Col des Astauds and Col des Gainons on the return to Malaucène.
Into the hills north of Caromb. Through vineyards and villages. Past a fluffy white cat annoyed that I interrupted their mouse murder time. Clouds played ball, even a bit of sun shown through.
Not a day for dirt lanes or twisty mountain switchbacks. Knowing the weather forecast, I wasn’t totally sure we’d be riding at all. The randonneur’s paradox at work. After rendezvousing with Jenn in Aix, we still need to make it to Carpentras. A “sleepy little agricultural village”, Carpentras serves as home until the end of March. The streets out of Aix were wet from the over night rain, and a drizzle set in almost as soon as we departed. Aix is more of a Saturday night city than a Sunday morning one, so while the grades out of town were steep, the roads were quiet all the way to Carpentras. Though that drizzle accompanied us most of the way
Intending to watch the morning mist rise over the hills, I plopped down with a bad coffee outside the Cafe de la Poste in Robion. Instead I arrived just in time for the morning dew to settle, wetting everything within reach. Tracing a quiet route along the base of the mountains and up the canyon I reached Col du Pointu, greeted by a frigid wind. Despite every attempt to divert in search of the morning’s shelter, it would vex me the remainder of the day. Jenn had mentioned traffic into Aix was unpleasant, so I did my best to choose small roads, double tracks and, as I approached the city, neighborhoods. Coming across a wide, smooth, quiet road through the hills outside town I passed one, another and a third cycling peloton, all with team car in tow. A yellow sign indicated this road would be used for a race tomorrow.
