Cyclists head to France's Mont Ventoux for 'Nutters' challenge' • FRANCE 24 English

In the skyline of France's Provence region, Mont Ventoux culminates at 1,909 metres. Each year, its steep slopes are the setting for an epic stage of the Tour de France cyling race. The bald mountain fascinates professional and amateur cyclists alike. The most determined of them even attempt the "Nutters' challenge": climbing Mont Ventoux three times in one day on the three different roads to the summit. We went to meet some of them.
Read more about this story in our article: f24.my/9rsj.y
🔔 Subscribe to France 24 now: f24.my/YTen
🔴 LIVE - Watch FRANCE 24 English 24/7 here: f24.my/YTliveEN
🌍 Read the latest International News and Top Stories: www.france24.c...
Like us on Facebook: f24.my/FBen
Follow us on X (Twitter): f24.my/Xen
Browse the news in pictures on Instagram: f24.my/IGen
Discover our TikTok videos: f24.my/TKen
Get the latest top stories on Telegram: f24.my/TGen

[@mogon721]

I've climbed the Ventoux with my heavily modfied Dahon foldable about a dozen times over the last decade. Additionally, a few times, I only did the last few km from the Chalet Reynard and the Chalet Liotard as a nice afternoon workout. I do it in my own pace and often stop for photos, and that's what I recommend to everybody who thinks they are not capable of doing it because they compare themselves to those people with the monster calves. ;-) I had burning sun, fog, storm, once even light snow shortly before they closed the road from Bédoin, and that was really magic.
I used to go there at least once a year with my camper and stayed on the top for a few days. Only in the last three years, I didn't have the opportunity, but hopefully I find the time next year. The Ventoux never disappoints. It's so stunningly beautiful, and it never gets old. Once, Í did all three routes within three days. I've heard of the challenge, of course, but I would never even try to do even two ascends in one day. Maybe if I was 30 years younger...

[@andrew30m]

Just started cycling in my 50’s this is my target to keep training on the cold winters nights here in the U.K.

[@uck8978]

J’adore le vélo, mais montrer ici - c’est trop pour moi 😢

[@mogon721]

Sorry for writing in English.
Don't compare yourself with those people with the expensive bikes and the monster calves. If you are fairly fit, you can do it!
About fifteen years ago, I moved from the northern flatlands into a moderately hilly region in western Germany. I hated cycling there! And I practically stopped cycling for years. But then, about 10 years ago, I watched a documentary about the Ventoux, and that got my interest running. Also, I learned more about riding the bike much better and how to configure it to fit my purposes and my body. Since then, I discovered quite a lot of tricks that made me enjoy cycling even in the highest mountains.
The very first step was to actually learn my optimum cadence. I'm not one of those Tour cyclists with their high bandwith of cadence. I realized that I can only comfortably pedal in a relatively small range between 60 and 80 turns per minute, which is no problem with a standard bike if the terrain is flat. I'm like an old diesel engine, not much power and no high revs. ;-) For steep hills, I obviously needed to change the gears of my bike. I modified my road bike at the time before I travelled to the Ventoux for the first time, but I didn't know much then. The lowest gear ratio was still not good enough for more than a few hundred meters of more than 7% or 8%. I had to ride in serpentines on the road when it was steeper than that. And another problem was that I did not have the right nutrition. I was really completely exhausted and barely made it to the summit. So, I read about long-chain sugars versus short-chain sugars and ended up with simple maltodextrine which I mixed into my water bottles, and since then, I never had that kind of exhaustion anymore. Of course, you can buy those fancy sport foods, but all I ever used was maltodextrine, a mixture of long-chained sugar, almost starch. Also, I monitored my heart beat more thoroughly. Never go over your limits or you won't last long. ;-) Also, learn breathing. Deep abdominal breathing, and not too fast, that makes me go.
Then I bought a nice 26" foldable licensed by Dahon and started to experiment with the gear ratios. The bike is not a road bike, of course, but I love it for it's versatility. In its lightest form, it weighs 11.5 kg, and it has 2" tyres, but they can take 6 bar and they roll as good as many road bikes I had the opportunity to compare them to. For the gear ratios, you can find graphical gear calculators that tell you what sprockets you need to have for what speed and for what cadence. In effect, they will give you the distance you travel with one turn of the pedals. For my rather slow speed, I need a minimum distance per pedal turn of 1.5 or 1.66 m which is often called a grandfather gear. Make of that what you want. ;-) It means that I can (relatively) easily ascend 12% or more with my cadence of 60-80 over a longer period of time. It's slow but still faster than walking. I only need the lowest gear if it's really steep, but it's simply good to have it. The best bandwith between lowest and highest gear for me is 5, meaning that the gear ratios range from about 1.66 m to 8 m between the lowest and the highest gear. With 8 m per pedal turn, I can go fast without a crazy cadence. Those people with their fancy bikes will sniff at that, but who cares, they should get a life.
In the end, I climbed up all of the 4 Tour the France HC greats, I did most of the 10 highest (road) passes in the Alps, among them the Col de l'Iséran (~2770m), the Col Agnel (~2740m), the Col du Galibier (2642m) and the Cime de la Bonette (2803m). Also, I rode my bike up the Pico del Veleta (3394m) in the Spanish Sierra Nevada only 30 km up from Granada, with the highest paved road in Europe. So, if I, who I am not a sporting ace but only somebody who likes bicycling, can do that, people should not hang their ambitions too low. You don't have to be the fastest one to reach the finish line and enjoy the way. 🙂