Weight Weenies

Has anyone heard of, or done Le Cingles du Mont Ventoux?

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Yeah. Tried this a while ago and did 2 ascents. A friend did it this year. Hard!

Was near the Ventoux during last year's summer holiday, but only did 1 ascend (from Bedoin) since i had to ride 50km from the camping to the Bedoin and back afterwards, and I didn't get up too early

Met lot of people who were doing the Cinglé though.

If you just take enough time for it and bring enough food it seems very doable to me.

I guess it all comes down to the time it takes to do the 3 ascents. Anything under 1hr 15min for each one is pretty decent I'm told.

Does anyone know what a reasonable rough time to complete the whole ride would be? Apparently it's 136km.

I've got a week in Sisteron coming up and may attempt it.

For those that don't know its a one day triple ascent of Mont Ventoux from Malaucene, Sault, and Bedoir.

I know of a cyclotourist guy who did 4 ascents in a day. Must be others.
But it's really about the pace, isn't it? Doing it in a slow pace with a triple is quite different than doing it fast.

konky wrote:Anything under 1hr 15min for each one is pretty decent I'm told.

Anything under that is actually extremely good.

1h30 is a very good time.

Less than 2h is decent, in particular if you ride the 3 routes in one day.

More info here BTW

http://www.clubcinglesventoux.org/en/rules.html

For the truly dedicated (nuts)!

Bicinglette - represents twice the Cinglé, six ascents and six descents: Bédoin twice, Malaucène twice and Sault twice, 272 km et 8886 m difference in level.

I actually did this like 3 weeks ago on holiday.

Bedoin-> 1h38 (start at 7h56 AM)
Malaucene (crazy fast descent) -> 1h41
Sault -> 1h37

The thing is that you really have to go easy on the first two ascents, but the climb from malaucene is just brutal, harder than Bedoin IMO. And then starting the last ascent at 2:00 PM in the heat (40 C) on a new, hot tarmac is not funny when you already are completely spent!

Anyway the feeling on the top after the third time is awesome. A lot depends on the wind though! For example I did Bedoin 2 days in a row, and I went 1h36 and 1h27, so the wind has a big impact!

Two very different events I would say.

The Cingles can be a performance event, Bicinglette is truly pure endurance.

The record for ascents in 24hrs is 11.

Congrats. Good times.

ghyselinckr wrote:I actually did this like 3 weeks ago on holiday.

Bedoin-> 1h38 (start at 7h56 AM)
Malaucene (crazy fast descent) -> 1h41
Sault -> 1h37

The thing is that you really have to go easy on the first two ascents, but the climb from malaucene is just brutal, harder than Bedoin IMO. And then starting the last ascent at 2:00 PM in the heat (40 C) on a new, hot tarmac is not funny when you already are completely spent!

Anyway the feeling on the top after the third time is awesome. A lot depends on the wind though! For example I did Bedoin 2 days in a row, and I went 1h36 and 1h27, so the wind has a big impact!

I did it a few years back with a club mate; I'd highly recommend it.

We did the Routes du Ventoux sportive (a French "sportive" which is otherwise known as as "race" mass start, rolling road closure till Ventoux, prizes for top three in various categories and some crazy semi-pros at the sharp end of things) on the saturday, then rolled back on the Sunday to do the Cingles. We did Bedoin, Maulaucene and then Sault, which seems to be the standard order, with times of around 1:30 for the first two climbs (cant recall from Sault, but its the most straight forward climb). If I remember right we had a quick stop in Maulaucene for a coke and a snack, then went straight back up - stopping for an early lunch at Chalet Reynaurd before the decent to Sault.

Given you've got all day, it's a big day, but pretty straight forward and stress free when compared to timed and competitive events.

As ghyselinckr says, weather can play a part. I've been up and over Ventoux maybe 15 times now, including a long long ascent from Bedoin on a chunky hired tandem with my non-cycling partner (lucky she's only 42kg...) and I've been lucky to have nothing but perfect conditions. There are enough horror stories of crazy winds, rain or searing heat that I dont take that for granted though!

jon

I became twice 'un cinglé du Mont Ventoux' in the last 5 years.
3 climbs in a row is hard.
You start with the hardest from Bedoin, the second from Malaucène feels as hard as the clmib from Bedoin.
The third from Sault is longer and not so steep. Don't be mistaken because the first 4-5km on this climb ar ein open field where the wind can be blowing.
But be reassured it's a hard day working on the bike to become part of Les Cinglés du Mont Ventoux.

I also am a Cingle - I did it in 2009. I took some time to decide the best strategy - I even rode up from Bedoin and then descended into Malaucene to suss it out. In the end up I decided to make the first ascent from Malaucene, then Bedoin and finally Sault. I know that the Bedoin ascent is the Classic route but I genuinely found the ascent the hardest, and was happy to get it over with. As for my times I have them recorded on an old MSD which refuses to work, so guess what this Winter's tech project will be

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