While my travel companions John and Paul have been hogging the laptop and waxing poetic about Ventoux this and Ventoux that (of course, I'm teasing you, John and Paul!), I've been experiencing a wonderful time in Mazan and the Provence-Alpes-Cote D'Azur area.
I have had no end of "favorite friends": first, there was our concierge, who showed us the ins and outs of our room, complete with directions on how to relax on our patio, who listened patiently to my lame attempts to speak French, and who dresses really cute; second is Nadine, our driver at Mt. Ventoux, who watched over us and carefully and skillfully (and I won't even tell you HOW skillfully) she drove in and out of the cyclists and switchbacks and other cars ... who spoke only French and made small talk with me while we waited for John and Paul to come up Ventoux and wondered why the heck we would come from a big city like Washington DC to these little towns in Provence... and finally, our vintner, who explained every aspect of making their organic wine in French, which wine to drink when, while I translated for The Boys: "The men drink this one at the bar while they talk about this and that, and this one is smooth like velour" (and rubbed her arm saying, "you know, like velour"), and who cheerfully refunded our money because to ship a case of wine was $400! I find the people here so dang nice and friendly and fun.
I have been having a blast trying to keep up with The Boys, and that's no small feat. Both John and Paul are getting strong as can be and are gaining confidence each day. I thought yesterday was great, but today's ride was even better. We're getting used to the climbs. Now an 8% grade is a relief! (That pesky 11-12% -- that's another story.) Lance and Rob have been perfect stewards and have been keeping us safe and motivated each ride.
I have no doubt that I would have had a better experience at Mont Ventoux if my peeps Margie and Siew Ching had been with me: two ladies with incredible stamina and willpower -- we'd have done it together, ladies!
And here's a very cool part of the rides: the scents. Oh, the lavender! But also the pine and I swear the rosemary... My friend Laura would say it's divine!
One thing I'm not fond of: the hand shower. I can't believe how long it takes to wash my dang hair with a hand shower. And the core muscles I have to use to keep from slipping around in the tub and squirting the entire bathroom with water: thank goodness for bootcamp and core exercises!
Tomorrow we leave Mazan, and it will be sad. It's been an awesome week of riding: 271.5 miles ridden, 20,760 feet climbed, according to John's Strava report. Next week is in the Alps and Alp d'Huez. I'm getting me a 32 cassette and see how I do. Wish me luck!
Finally, I have been waiting patiently for you to blog. Glad you are getting a 32 for the alps. Can't wait to hear all the stories!!
ReplyDeleteHey Shawn. You can't believe how hard John and Paul worked on Ventoux, I truly was so proud of both of them. If I had had Siew Ching there to slap her hip and say "Stay with me", I woulda done it!
ReplyDeleteMy 2nd best friend Nadine was both a blessing and a curse: she carried all our cameras and extra water and stuff, but it was also too easy to have a hard patch and see her and pack it in. At the point where I stopped, Paul and I had been together, but he kept that pedal turning over, and I just needed one more little gear... I unfortunately stopped and had a little breather (probably 5 minutes), and I was a bad omen for others: there, at a super-steep part, easy to give up: "if she stopped, maybe I can too". A father-daughter duo was right behind me, and she was really suffering, and they stopped with me. I felt bad. Rob got me started again -- there was no chance of getting started again on that hill on my own, I was already in my lowest gear -- and I don't know how much farther I made it, when Nadine came back through, and I made that split second decision to unclip (before I fell over!) and pack it in. Rob tried to tell me that there was no room in the car for my bike (nice try, Rob!!). Then, once we went about 50 feet in the car, the incline let off a little and I was very tempted to put the bike back together and keep going. But I didn't. So, I made the best of it, hanging with the ultra-cool Nadine and taking pictures. I bet I had as much fun as The Boys!
A side note: I saw the father-daughter duo again several times. Dad was helping her by pushing. I saw a lot of couples doing that, where the woman would get little pushes. (Oh, John...) Who knows how the dad was doing the pushing, getting his own self up the hill. But I also saw some awesome women just tapping it out. They were great.