Mont Ventoux

May 18, 2025

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!

Barbaresco to Barolo

September 19, 2024

When the weather turned sour in Chamonix, Dale and I considered our options and decided that riding bikes around Alba in Italy topped our list. We did a beautiful ride in the Aosta Valley on the way, enjoyed a wonderful meal in Torino, and had a low-key day in Alba checking out the local wineries and the sights while it rained. The weather looked better the next day and so we left Alba after a nice breakfast and cappuccinos just after 9:30am.

We headed clockwise up to Barbaresco first, enjoying the amazing climbs and scenery and taking a few minutes in the town itself to explore a bit. We also found the 2014 Giro d’Italia stage marker, imagining top-tier cyclists charging through these vineyard-covered hills with massive chainrings.

From Barbaresco, we went to Neive and enjoyed a cappuccino in the old town. We then pressed on through a number of hills to Diano d’Alba where we feasted on pizza for lunch. The rest of the ride to Barolo continued through magical terrain with continually jaw-dropping views. Many of the roads we took were single-lane with barely any car traffic.

In Barolo, we couldn’t not have some wine. An enchanting 2018 Albarella Barolo and lovely conversation entertained us for a solid half hour before climbing back on our steeds for the last few miles up to La Morra and back down to Alba.

It’s a Unesco World Heritage Site for a reason. Go there and ride your bicycle through it. You will not be disappointed.

Rainier Vertfest

July 27, 2024

After doing RAMROD solo and a number of different rides in the park, I had wanted to do a ride linking Paradise, Chinook, Sunrise, and Cayuse Passes in a single ride. With the Stevens Canyon road recently reopened and a second baby on the way, I decided this summer was my opportunity to do it.

I parked outside the Grove of the Patriarchs entrance and started a little after 8am with a loop down to Packwood, up Skate Creek Road, up to Paradise and down to the car. This was about 60 miles with 5,000 feet of climbing. I tried to keep the pace reasonable, knowing I had a long day ahead of me. I took about 4:15 for this section.

After a nice half-hour break at the car for lunch with my shoes off, I donned another layer of sunscreen and headed up toward Chinook Pass. I felt pretty good on this, still trying to pace myself but with my heart rate about 20bpm higher than on the Paradise climb in the morning with the day heating up. After about 1:45 of climbing, I was at the top and it was decision time. If my legs had been smoked, I would have been able to coast back down to the car, but I decided I felt good enough to go for the full ride to Sunrise and back.

Sunrise from the Ranger’s Station was another 1:40 of climbing, but I made it without too much difficulty. Just a few cramp twinges here and there. I fueled back up at Sunrise and prepared for what I assumed would be a painful final climb up Cayuse Pass. Thankfully, I hit a second wind for this bit and actually had decent power for the final climb. From there, it was mostly coasting down to the car for a little over 128 miles with over 13,000 feet of climbing. A great day out and a nice test of my fitness.