I'd like to say it was fun

Oraison to Sault, 77.5 miles.

The morning was spent riding to Sault, our "base" for the attempt on Ventoux. The afternoon was spent going up Ventoux.

The morning was 47 miles of generally undulating valley, but made really tough by a continually strengthening headwind, it made it a real struggle to make decent progress, very energy sapping. Saw a classic example of why the "priority to the right" rule should be abolished - a 40 ton truck cruised past me and then out of a small side lane pulled a battered old Citroën van, causing the truck to lock all his brakes. Just madness.

Only other highlight of the morning was finally finding a straight bit of downhill road - up to now it's all been hairpins with death drops to one side - not very conducive to legging it downhill - but coming into Sault there was a dead straight flat road with grass verges either side (i.e. if you bounce then at least it's soft). Freewheeled down most of it before finding a slightly steeper bit - legged it flat out for about 15 seconds and hit 49 mph, fastest ever I've been on a bike, a great feeling.

Stats for the morning:
Distance 47 miles
Time 3:39
Average: A dismal wind battered 12.8mph
Max: 49 mph.

Stopped in Sault for lunch and then set off for Ventoux. The foothills were fine albeit with the wind still picking up so on one straight it was blowing us along uphill at 15 mph, go around the 180 degree hairpin and directly back into the wind and the bike speed immediately drops to 5 mph and on and on... Slowly progressed up the foothills where the gradient was around 5% degrees - the main problem I was having was monotony - the scenery was just the same continual mountain scrub / forest and the road just continually bending onwards and upwards. So I started playing games with the "kilometre boards" - spent about an hour climbing just looking out for the next "kilometre board" - each board had the altitude on it, so I would try and guess how many metres I had climbed in the last kilometre. We started at about 700 metres and bit by bit it climbed (the top is 1909m) although the game got quickly depressing as it would often take several minutes to do the kilometre and the height would rise from 850 to 885 metres - and you think - gee, thanks, just another 1,100 metres to go then... but at least it passed the time.

After about 1.5 hours I reached Chalet Reynard which is the last landmark before the summit - the chalet is on the treeline and above it is just 6km of scree slopes to the summit. Unfortunately once the trees were no longer there for protection the full force of the wind took effect, it was just really really brutal - and the last 6km was also the steepest - at between 8 and 10%. The road at this level was covered by Tour graffiti - passed a big bit saying "Penske (a Tour team) Kick!!" at which point I was trying myself not to be sick. Just amazing to think the Tour riders attack hills like this, powering up at 15 to 20mph, I was struggling to hit 5pmh.

It then started to get really cold and became a real struggle, many gusts of wind almost bringing me to a stop. Even worse was the psychological impact - you could see the top now but also see how far it was still away. The last 6km took about an hour and it was just continual pain, so much so that I went past the Tom Simpson memorial without even noticing it was there, the only thing I could concentrate on was keeping the pedals somehow turning. Spent the last km or so in tears as I just wanted to be at the top rather than a km away from it, and on reaching the top then spend the next ten minutes in tears because I'd made it. Four of us got to the top within a few minutes of each other (of which one of the others were also in tears) and whilst we were there the weather took a severe turn for the worse, the cloud came down, the wind picked up and whereas it was already cold it quickly became bitter, with flurries of sleet in the air and continual strong gusts of winds. Put on my thermal gloves, jacket and hat and set off down the hill - by this time many people had been reduced to walking up the hill - and of course once you start walking you get even colder as the body is not generating so much heat, they looked really bitterly cold. Many people after us decided to turn back and I think overall around half of us made it, half turned back. Anyone who made it up after us got bitterly cold and we were lucky to get up when we did - I had a pretty torrid time, they had a shocker - the gift shop at the top gave them newspaper to stuff down their top for insulation.

Came down freezing cold but only got about 1/2 a mile before a huge gust of icy wind blew me clean off the road, thankfully hitting the deck onto a gentle scree slope rather than anything more severe - I knew quickly either myself or my bike would be hitting the scree and decided the bike was going to cop it. Thankfully no harm done, could have been a lot worse. Some people were blown off two or three times, one of them into a "death drop" barrier - scary stuff - it really was getting ugly up there. All the time back down in Sault of course it was lovely sunshine.

Had real problems walking / moving at the summit, my legs seized up really quickly, no doubt a combination of exertion and cold. Came back down into the hotel and decided the only thing for it was a cold bath which seems to have done the trick, I can walk once again.

Special mention has to go to Ken, he has MS and as he's losing his balance he rides a trike. He averages about half the speed of the rest of us. So we spent just under 7 hours cycling today - he spent 13 hours cycling - I just heard him get in, it's now 9pm and I watched him leave this morning at 7.30am. And he made it to the top, long after everyone else had turned back. Just an amazing guy to do what he does.

So, I wish I could say it was fun but it wasn't, it was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life. It was a huge experience and one that I would recommend to anyone but it wasn't fun, it was just painful, very very painful, and emotional.

Took some fantastic pictures from the top, really nice. Cameraphone again doesn't do it justice but got some nice ones with my proper camera.

Stats for the afternoon:
Distance 32 miles
Time 2 hrs 59 minutes
Average 10.8 mph
Max 36 mph.