The 'Giant of Provence' as it is called. This is taken from where I started from, Bedoin.
This is the view after coming out of the forest, the first view of the end since the start, already done about 10-12km at 10% gradient. It is as tough as they say. Interestingly, there is a constant Stream of people cycling and running up, it does not seem to stop.
The final 4-6km.
One photo taken on the way up by griffephotos.com
The final 1-2km. Note, I took all these photos on the way down, no stopping on the way up. It was about here that I started to cramp in my right hamstring.
The monument to Tom simpson, the English cyclist who died here during a Tour de France stage.
The top was full of people (mostly Italians) on mobylettes and Fiat 500s, go figure.....
Well I made it to the top, approx 21km, approx 1,500m of climbing, average gradient of 7,4% (it felt like more!) in 1h50 minutes, average speed of 11.7kph, the TdF guys do it in approx 21kph! It was tough but ready to try again, really need to improve my cadence, most of the time sub 70 and even dropping to sub 60 when I should be closer to 80. Thats my homework.....
On Strava, have the 1,268th time out of 3,579 people.
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