Past Ride
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Fri Sep 20th 2013
| Languedoc Day 6 | 3* |
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Leader:Chris Walters |
Start Time:9:00 am |
Start Location:Uzes |
Description:Mt Bouquet |
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Riders:Andy PixtonChris Walters David Smith John Talbot John Tranter Katherine Boyce Phil Stubbings Ursula Hallam Riders = 8 Weather:   Report:Last ride of the holiday! Despite yesterday being a recovery ride (no matter how much our Chairman protests at that description!), there were still some tired legs today, mine included. We managed to get out of Uzes without any trouble this morning, despite a couple of incorrect challenges to the ride leader.The journey over to Bouquet (or, the Bucket, as it's affectionally known for sinister reasons) was quite uneventful until we started the climb over the Garrigue, when a few calls of "ow!" were heard from tight thighs. Bouquet is an ever-present in this landscape with its' distinctive shape and lack of surrounding lumps, and we gradually reeled in the base ready for our ascent. Stopwatches started and we were off. The really brutal bit (20+% and narrow road, in the full and unshaded heat of the day) created a couple of walkers who valued their knees for 50 metres, and also created a few blue words. This climb doesn't really let up, apart from the depressing downhill stretch where you lose some hard-won altitude. As ever, John made it to the top first, closely followed by Andy, and the rest of us trickled up, some still swearing, for the "top of the world lunch stop". Alas, there was no ice-cream van. The views over to the Alps (you could make out Mont Blanc and la Meije glacier), Ventoux, the Med and also the Cevennes mountains really do make this a gem of a mountain to climb. Sadly, it's not the best to descend, being steep, winding and narrow but we all got down in one piece. The return journey to Uzes was punctuated by a drink and ice-cream stop in Belvezet, which involved gatecrashing a biodiversity conference in the middle of nowhere. The lady in the cafe was mortified when Andy asked for a coffee... The final descent of the day back off the Garrigue was awesome. In fact it was so awesome that Phil and David carried on and missed the turning, so instead of stopping for a beer in Uzes, they went back to their lodgings and had to swim in the pool in bib shorts (Ursula-with-the-key had wisely chosen the beer option). A great end to a great holiday with absolutely fantastic people - thank you one and all! | ||
Distance:55.00 km (34.18 mi) | Ride Details:http://ridewithgps.com/trips/1832578 | |
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Comment on this ride | ||
1
Written by : John Talbot Posted on : September 22, 2013 at 6:23 PM |
An awesome week with awesome people. Huge thanks to Chris for triggering the idea, planning the trip, organising the participants, creating the routes and breaking our legs! |
2
Written by : Ursula Posted on : September 22, 2013 at 7:27 PM |
A fabulous end to a fabulous week! Mt Bouquet sounded so idyllic but was no bed of roses - tougher than any part of Ventoux even if shorter. Second the thanks to Chris as director sportif and to Phil for being super-domestique in sorting out Davids and my transport and accommodation and everyone else for a brilliant holiday. |
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