Ben Rabner recently had the opportunity to ride Mt. Ventoux and gave us the details of his epic ride. Check it out below!
“what makes an epic ride? i don’t know. but i do know this was one crazy ride. rode over a bunch of mountains, plateaus with wind, cool amazing vistas, 100 degree heat, 270 km, the ventoux, and getting hit in the helmet by a bird on a descent.
sorry about the shadow of the guy taking my photo — i didn’t have much time to spend on top and find the best photo spot as i was racing against the day light as i still had 100 km to ride with a setting sun. rode from manosque all the way around to west side of mont ventoux to take the race route from bedoin up to the top. this was by far the hardest climb i have ever done. i was pretty cooked by the time i finally got over there — the long distance and the heat was insane. and to boot — there is no gatoraide to be found in france. i had no room to pack a coke for the ride up as i was loaded like a pack mule with food — not really a quicki-mart in france for a snickers bar either. don’t know how the french can ride on just baguettes. 18km of average 10% grade. fortunately on the lower half there are some trees for moments of brief respite from the heat. once i hit the ski resort where you are totally exposed on the limestone peak — the wind was not wicked crazy — just medium. you can see the top of the mountain from quite a ways out. all day it was looming ahead and then i had to climb a mountain to get around to the west side of it and then descend into the valley to then begin climbing back up again. as you make your way across the valley that summit just hangs over you and it never seems to get any closer. i didn’t throw down any impressive time up the ascent — but i at least made it to the top.
after i raced off the ventoux i arrived in the ittle town and needed a coke-cola desperately. was willing to trade a kidney for one. i bought the can of coke and asked the lady for the nearest pay phone. i needed to call my sister and let her know i was running behind as it was getting late and didn’t want her worrying. went to the pay phone to find out it only accepted phone cards and all i had was euros. went back to the older lady and asked her if she knew where i could buy a phone card. she was not serving up much assistance and could care less. she told me she sells them — the cheapest one was 20 euros. damn. if i gave her back the un-opened can of coke i would have exactly enough for the dumb phone card. a battle now ensued in my mind — i reall, really needed that coke to make it back home — but i also needed to make the phone call. coke vs a $27 u.s. dollar (20 euro) phone call. i looked across the road and saw a bistro with some cute french girls about my age working the counter. i took my coke and went over there and asked if they sold any phone cards for the pay phone. they informed me that the didn’t — but offered me to use their phone. i tried giving them some euros for the call but they refused. after a friendly chat i drank my coke and was able to get rolling again. i think they just felt pity for some american mutilating their language and a long ways left to ride. that is ok — i gladly accepted the pity card”
