This day didn't have a good start. I heard from Blair's text that they are shutting down LEP operations in San Diego and Boise within 3-6 months, which means that a lot of my former colleagues will likely be out of a job. That is really bad news and made me feel depressed. Got all my stuff ready and then I couldn't find my shoes. Went out to the car to look and got locked out of the building. Of course, Ann found them and let me back in. Finished getting packed up, and we were on the road by 7:50 or so. Got to Bedoin around 8:30, I ended up parking too far away from the cycle shop, Bedoin Location, where we rented the bikes. We walked over and I paid for the rentals while Pat found a bathroom. Got the bikes set up and then we geared up, we're riding by 9:15. Pat had to stop several times to adjust his seat height, which was mildly frustrating, after he had had the bike tech set the height for him. The first part of the climb is fairly gentle, and I was feeling fine. My bike fit was okay, had to reach a little for the handlebars but that didn't turn out to be a problem. I rode with Pat for a while, then got ahead of him a little bit as I settled into a comfortable cadence for me. When the gradient kicked up, I gapped him and then left him behind. It turned out to be the right call, since he didn't have a good day. Through the trees up these long winding roads without too many sharp curves, I was comfortable pushing the pedals, mostly in my lowest gear but occasionally switching to higher gear and riding out of the saddle to mix it up and stretch my lower back. There was a stretch between mile 4 and mile 8 when the average gradient was 9.8%. I don't know how I kept up a decent pace for four miles at 10% gradient! After about six miles the grade let up a bit from generally over 9% to more like 7%, with occasionally lower gradients. It took quite a while to get to the Chalet Reynard, a winter ski resort, and this is roughly where the tree line is. Saw some donkeys there, and a bunch of riders were taking a break either from the climb or the descent. Gradient after this point probably averaged 6% for a while, there were probably about four miles to go from here. I was grinding it out by this time, feeling pretty good in being able to spin up a 6% grade with no problem. Following the road signs indicating distance to the summit, along with my Wahoo. There were a couple of photographers taking pictures of riders on the way up. I thought I was getting close to the summit according to my Wahoo, but it gave me 250' more to climb when I thought I was close to the end. That last less than a mile was a challenge, legs were holding out okay, but I was ready to be done. I got to the summit by this giant telecom tower, was very happy to get off the bike and savor the moment of the longest uninterrupted climb I've ever done, 5200'. It was clear at the top, a little breezy and cool. I took some pics and waited for Pat. Sent texts to several folks about being at the summit while I waited. He came in about 25-30 minutes later. I was starting to think about riding down to find him when he showed up, not in a good mood. The climb hadn't gone well for him, poor bike fit and a bigger effort than he thought it would be. He was suffering from Chateau Reynard on, which is a shame. As a result, we didn't hang around at the top, which turned out to be a good thing, since cloud cover was rolling in. I was determined to enjoy the descent as much as possible, even though it was chilly riding down. Took a pic of an observatory near the summit as well as the memorial to Tom Simpson on the way down. Rode the brakes for quite a while, I was shivering and didn't want to lose control of the bike. It was better (less turns in the road) after Chateau Reynard, I enjoyed the descent through the trees a lot, and I built up some speed at times. Had to slow down when I rode through a herd of sheep, took a pic to document. Fun descending on the lower, less steep slopes, quite pretty scenery. Pat was waiting for me kinda near the bottom, and we rode the last part of the descent into town together.
Avg speed = 10.5 mph. Total mileage =26.7 mi
Avg power = 152 W. Weighted avg power =175 W
Total elevation gain = 5220'
Avg heartrate = 142 bpm (Coospo)
Relative Effort = 168
Training Load = 174
Intensity = 80%
Dropped the bikes off at the shop and had beers and fries to celebrate. On the ride, I remember passing a lot of others but not very many riders passing me. Still I was only in the top half for time overall on Strava on the climb for the day. We drove back to the Airbnb with no incidents or traffic to deal with, and Ann met us at the gate to let us in. I ate a light lunch and had a relaxing afternoon, just a very short nap and some reading and catching up on news and blogging. In the evening we walked into town and ate at a run-of-the-mill Turkish restaurant (Pat's dish was supposed to have rice but for some reason it wasn't ready yet). Walked back after that. I wasn't impressed with Avignon city center, not much to offer as far as I could see. Rest of the evening was quiet (<>).
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