Training is not going that well this year, but I do have a Master Plan for the final run-up to Haute Route Pyrenees. I like to think of this as my ‘nuclear option’, since conventional weapons haven’t worked so far.

Here’s the first bomb I’m planning to drop: a ride I’ve been dreaming about doing for as long as I’ve been looking at the Alps from the top of Mont Ventoux:

The route starts from the village of Caromb, where my good friends from NYC are staying this month. Caromb is at the foot of Mont Ventoux. The day will (hypothetically) end on the top of Alpe d’Huez, with much re-hydrating and back-patting.

The route I’ve made is the straightest I could figure out without taking large roads. It will be 226 km for sure, but the 5581 meters of climbing will hopefully be Garmin’s famous optimistic outlook.

I don’t want to talk much more about it in case I jinx the whole thing, but look in this space in a little over a week to see if we prove our theory right.