We joined a special group of fool hardy cyclists, Club des Cinglés du Mont-Ventoux. It translates to the crazies club and is reserved for those who climb Ventoux three times in one day. The feat requires 137km/85mi and 4,400m/14,435ft of vertical climbing between the three ascents. It was without a doubt one of the hardest days on the bike for all of us, but it was a blast and the suffering was well worth the adventure, descents and incredible views. (Also we get medals!)

The Giant of Provence, Mont Ventoux is a Tour de France classic and a road cycling mecca. It looms large over the landscape of Provence and is unique in that it stands alone, so you can see it for miles and miles and from the top it feels like you can see forever. What makes it especially famous is the difficulty. 

French philosopher Roland Barthes stated the mountain, “never pardons the weak and exacts an unjust tribute of suffering.” And he was only thinking of climbing it once. 

The most famous ascent from Bedoin does not have switch backs, it winds ever so slightly at a punishing average grade of 11-13% through the forest with no let up. When you finally breakout to the limestone top it eases to 8% before kicking back up to double digits for the final pitch to the summit across the “moonscape.”

Our attack started at 4:20 am in the dark from Bedoin. Club organizers advise an early start to avoid making the third climb “an afternoon Hell” (how’s that for a dramatic French translation). Few things heighten the sense of adventure like rolling out before the sun rises. It was just us and the mountain. We had lights to see the road but it was a bit eery winding through the thick pine forest. About an hour in the warm glow of sunrise filtered in and it was beautiful. 

This first climb was tough! But we made it to the top at 7:15 am feeling pretty elated. It was also cool to see the painted messages from last year’s Tour de France on the road for this ascent. It was good to have tackled the undisputedly hardest ascent before the heat and the crowds rolled in. It felt almost like our private mountain. Near the top one cyclist passed us. Shortly after we summitted just a few more crazies rolled up, but overall it was very quiet. 
Then we plunged down to Malaucéne on a very cold descent, even with jackets and arm warmers. We weren’t worried about our brakes, but we were worried about our hands still being able to squeeze them! Double espressos with pastries at the first Bloulangerie we saw was definitely in order. We topped off our break with some chicken bouillon stirred into a mugs of hot water, a most excellent recovery trick we learned from the Dutch. 

At 8:50 we turned our rigs around to head back up the mountain. It was already getting very hot and we had to take some breaks to cool off. This second ascent is still difficult with lots of sections of 11% average grade, but unlike the ascent from Bedoin, it’s broken up by hairpins and relatively milder sections. 

We summitted at 12:05 to a biking CARNIVAL on top of the moutain. It was really quite a scene with all the kit colors on hundreds of cyclists, not to mention all the other tourists. That was a ton of fun to see the mountain revel in its status as a biking pilgrimage.

We descendend through the moonscape to the top of the forest, where there is a Chalet and enjoyed a massive lunch. Then it was onwards to Sault! The descent follows the ridge and it quite gentle, spreading the altitude gain over and extra 5 km. 

Crossing the valley full of lavender fields to short climb up to Sault (surprise!) was beautiful and a full sensory experience. The midday sun really throws the lavender smell into the air, where it just hangs in the heat.

So we had been clipping along and managing through the suffer fest well enough, but the heat was too much at the point so we decided to wait until the shadows would lengthen to make our third climb. After many cold drinks and a nap in the park we pushed of at 4 pm for the third and final ascent. 

The ascent from Sault is definitely the easiest, but at this point we were a little broken. If we only climbed from Sault, it wouldn’t be impressive. Thank goodness we saved it for last. Andrew operates in a different plane and managed it pretty well. My dad and I really suffered in the heat and took lots of breaks to cool down in the shade. We stopped at the Chalet to brace ourselves for the final 6km moonscape piece that’s shared with the Bedoin ascent. 

Now the wheels were really coming of the train! The last stretch was so unbelievably tough. There was hardly anything left in the tank and Rick and Caitlin had started to feel a bit sick. But at least it was quiet again. The one-ascent-and-done crowd was mostly gone and most of the 30-50 or so other crazies were done. So maybe we were the craziest of them all for bringing up the tail end and suffering the longest.

We payed our respects at the Tom Simpson memorial. Then Andrew rode to the top and Rick and Caitlin practically crawled, taking it one curve at a time over the final double-digit kick to the summit.

Never has cresting a mountain felt more joyous! We were wrecked but it was so tremendous to have done it! The descent to Bedoin (which we climbed in the dark) was downright celebratory! It was absolutely gorgeous with the golden-hour light streaming thought the forest and then lighting up the vineyards that cover the bottom third of the mountain. It was crazy fast and fun! With the grade being what it is and literally only one switchback, it’s a blur of flowing speed.

When back in Bedoin, we still needed to find a restaurant to provide our final stamp. We also needed dinner! We went to the same restaurant we visited the night before, which conveniently also had the Crazies stamp. It was fortunate to have the same server, since we embarrassed ourselves the night before carbo-loading for the ride (we each ordered essentially two dinners). She was excited to see us and thrilled we finished the three climbs. 

Final verdict: Likely your toughest riding day ever; 100% worth it.