I was excited to ride up the Giant of Provence during our parental leave trip in Europe after watching classic Tour de France stages on it over the years and having been to the area before but without having a chance to ride it. On a beautiful Sunday with little wind, the family and I headed out to Bédoin. To make the most of my wife’s generous offer to watch the kids, I mapped out a route that would do the classic climb from Bédoin, then descend to Sault, through the Nesque Gorge, back to Bédoin, up to Malaucène, and then back to Avignon via Suzette. At about 95 miles and over 8,500 ft of climbing, I knew I couldn’t go 100% on the climb up Ventoux, but I still gave it a pretty good effort.
With the weather and being a Sunday, the road was full of cyclists enjoying this classic ascent. Many looked to be laboring with gears that didn’t go quite low enough for the 8.3% average grade. Thankfully, my rental Specialized Aethos had a 34! I started out a bit hard and backed off a touch to keep my heart rate in a more reasonable range as I got onto the steeper wooded slopes. That strategy worked pretty well as I still had plenty in the tank as I got above tree line and pushed up the iconic moonscape. 1 hour 40 minutes from. Bédoin felt like a pretty respectable time with an estimated wattage of 257!
From there, the descent to Sault was a dream on good pavement with lots of cyclists and sports cars heading up the other way. I got an amazing food truck pizza in Sault and then settled in for many more miles on beautiful terrain. The descent through the Nesque Gorge was amazing, with tunnels through the rock and a snaking road through the canyon. I think I saw only one car during that whole section.
The part from Bédoin to Malaucène was fabulous, with a gentle snaking climb in the middle. The col near Suzette was hot and my legs were far from fresh at that point, but I still did ok and enjoyed an awesome descent South through vineyards. From Beaumes-de-Venise the riding was less heroic, but still quite lovely. I finished up in Avignon 6 hours and 15 minutes later, with a little over an hour of stoppage time on top of that during the ride for food and drinks. What a wonderful area to ride a bike!