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Video: Watching the Sun Rise: Mont Ventoux

By • Jun 12th, 2011 • Category: Climbs, Cycling, Favorites

The shortest but perhaps most fun “cyclosportive” I have ever done.

Philippe, Régis, Xavier, and I participated in the Ventoux Night Session.

The goal was simple: roughly 200 cyclists departing in different waves with the goal of all meeting at the top to watch the sunrise.

Good friends, legendary mountain, cold but perfect weather, as good as it gets.

Ventoux at Dawn Tom Simpson Memorial Time to Descend Ventoux Night Session Le col des tempêtes Dawn on Ventoux

A short video:

Régis at left:

Ventoux Night Session

Xavier, me, and Philippe:
Ventoux Night Session


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is Happiest while cycling uphill. More enthusiastic than talented, his 2013 Challenge is to cycle a 150 Cols (mountain passes), slowly -- and to just enjoy.
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13 Responses »

  1. EricEric on June 13th, 2011 at 1:46 pm:

    This must have been a great ride/expérience. Will, I wonder if this will be the start of a new type of cycling for you? Light on the head (good choice btw) and riding straight through the night…you are getting ready to join the ultra distance crowd I guess.

  2. WillWill on June 13th, 2011 at 8:02 pm:

    Eric,

    Yep, this could be a fun new hobby

    Although since, I am afraid of the dark, you’ll have to join me. :)

  3. Col Notre Dame des Abeilles : Cycling ChallengeCol Notre Dame des Abeilles : Cycling Challenge on June 14th, 2011 at 5:53 pm:

    [...] afternoon before our 3am assault of Ventoux we cycled this nice little loop from Bédoin up to Col Notre Dame des [...]

  4. Emyr WilliamsEmyr Williams on June 15th, 2011 at 9:51 am:

    Very different! Must have been great to reach the summit! :-)

    I have a technical question – how do you generate the gradient graphs that you use on your website, are they made from the GPS tracks you collect?

  5. WillWill on June 15th, 2011 at 11:08 am:

    Hi Emyr,

    I get the data from various sources depending on the climb: internet, books, magazines; or for the less famous stuff off my raw GPS data. I then manually make the charts using this software:

    http://www.omnigroup.com/products/omnigraphsketcher/

    I prefer doing it myself versus copying other peoples graphs.

  6. Emyr WilliamsEmyr Williams on June 15th, 2011 at 1:00 pm:

    Hi Will,

    Thanks for the tip, really appreciate the heads-up. I guess, to create the graphs you have to manually harvest the elevation data from the “gpx” files?

    I and a friend have been scrabbling around on the web to find something that did it for us simply but as with most things there is no obvious solution. I’ll have a look at OmniGraphSketcher, I think it’s on the Mac AppStore.

    Thanks once again and bonne route!

    Emyr

  7. fptruedasfptruedas on June 16th, 2011 at 8:10 am:

    very pretty photos

  8. NicholasNicholas on June 20th, 2011 at 2:43 pm:

    Amazing, Will! I did climb Ventoux on my own (my family and I were in the region for a week of holidays), just one day before you. Started at 5:50 AM, so didn’t see the sunrise. But it was most beautiful (and very cold) nevertheless!
    Nicholas

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    [...] : voir aussi l’article de notre ami Will (en anglais) 15 juin 2011 | Catégorie: Comptes rendus de sorties, Route, [...]

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    [...] Easily the funnest ride of the year, we started out in the wee hours of the night and reached the summit just as the sun was rising. More details here. [...]

  11. Col du Galibier at Dawn : Cycling ChallengeCol du Galibier at Dawn : Cycling Challenge on June 23rd, 2012 at 11:43 am:

    [...] I had been thinking about this project, ever since Philippe, Xavier, and I watched the sunrise up Mont Ventoux. [...]

  12. Mont Ventoux – All Three Sides : Cycling ChallengeMont Ventoux – All Three Sides : Cycling Challenge on October 12th, 2012 at 11:03 am:

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  13. Array : Cycling ChallengeArray : Cycling Challenge on December 29th, 2012 at 6:37 pm:

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