Okay, the journey itself was planned far in advance, but the time it took to get there was a little surprising.

Today I climbed Mont Ventoux with a friend I met in Haute Route Alps last year – Jan. He is over in Bédoin with his family for a week, just steps away from Kilometer Zero. We determined that we would ‘ride it hard’ and see where the chips fell. I had no idea how I’d go since I hadn’t climbed for time this year and, as you know, I’m a little over my fighting weight.

Long story short, I felt pretty peppy and I found a wheel to follow at the beginning, then got into a nice rhythm through the forest.  I had so much confidence at Chalet Reynard that I thought I might be going for a personal best, but my math was off and that last km at the top of the mountain brought me back to reality. I ended up with 1:34, possibly my 2nd best time. 1:30 is so close, but it would really take a lot of suffering to break it, I think.

Jan finished a bit behind, but that appendectomy a few months ago probably took a bit out of him. Here he is, muscling through some pedestrians to summit without getting off his bike.

That photo you just need to have.

Jan, his wife Shannon, and his mom, after a great lunch on the patio.