Today's Tour
de France stage was a classic. The penultimate stage of the race took on the infamous Mont
Ventoux. This mountain, nicknamed the Giant of Provence, is imposing rather than beautiful. It is a relentlessly steep climb of 30 km. The last 6 kilometres are across a barren limestone wasteland. This is the road on which the famous British cyclist Tommy Simpson died from exhaustion in 1967; he literally rode himself into the ground.
I am currently preparing a list of goals for myself (more about this in another post soon) and in my draft version I have "cycle one of the great mountains from the Tour". The obvious contenders are:
- Mont Ventoux
- Alpe d'Huez
- Sestriere
Cycling fans will recognise all of these and be able to vividly recall the great battles that have taken place on their slopes. After watching today's racing I think Mont
Ventoux has edged to the top of my list. I will have to do some serious training if I am to get fit enough to tackle any one of these monsters. Hopefully having a challenging goal like this will provide some of the motivation that I need to stick with the training programme.
And speaking of the training programme: I found time today to fit in a run (30 mins) and a ride (45 mins). Although both were slow, I felt strong and able to breathe easily. Hopefully tomorrow I will get the study tidied up so that I have some space to start doing some weight training as well.
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