CLUB DES CINGLES DU MONT-VENTOUX

6 months from surgery and a dream come true

I remember lying in my hospital bed unable to even sit up, I lay there looking out the window holding back tears and told myself I will stand on the top of Mont Ventoux in 6 months. The doctors thought I was mad but I believed I would, and last Wednesday that dream came true. Not content with cycling up the Ventoux once. I wanted to do it 3 times on all three routes in one day up the mountain which has been described as the mountain of hell by some of the top Tour cyclists in the world. 

I lay in bed the night before and read online about the climb from Bedoin, "once you leave the forrest of hell its time to enter a sea of suffering"...... I can confirm it was!!! 

I loved the pain though as unlike lying in a hospital bed in pain, this pain made me feel alive. 

During the day I suffered and hurt but I kept thinking of what life might of been like and how lucky I am to be on this mountain doing what I love. 

The photo above was at the end of the final climb, I sat crying on the wall overcome with emotion with what Ventoux had done to me on this day, and on how lucky I am to be able to still ride my bike when I came so close last October to loosing everything. 

Thank you to my good friends who rode it with me last week, without them I would have really struggled and to cross the line with you guys putting close to the last 6 months was a very special moment for me. 

Its time to leave Ventoux now and prepare for my first World Cup Race in 3 weeks as I aim for Rio 2016.

"The Ventoux is a god of Evil, to which sacrifices must be made. It never forgives weakness and extracts an unfair tribute of suffering."

Roland Barthes, French philosopher and bicycle racing fan,