Provence Distilled
The legs are sore. The back is sore. The rides over the last 20 days have seen us gain more than 15,000m of height. Rest is an attractive option, but we are on a cycling holiday, and what’s more, in Provence, and there is a part of Provence we have not been to before. I suspect it will look like every other part of Provence, which is why I want to go there.
Set aside what you are doing, and think of Provence. And think of the elements that would make up your dream ride in Provence: what elements would it have?
A climb, or two perhaps, but nothing too steep.
Vineyards, the ripened fruit visible on the vines.
Olive groves.
Lavender fields: in your thoughts they are in full bloom, for us the crop had been harvested and we were left with hillsides covered in neat rows of carefully shorn bushes.
Forest.
Cliffs set in amongst the hills to catch the eye as you turn a corner.
Rustic farm houses dotted amongst the vineyards and olive groves.
Stone villages clustered around the town’s church.
And, of course, a view of Ventoux.
We had this today, and more.
A short drive of 15kms from our village that takes longer than it should due to the complicated backroads we chose to follow lands us at Villes sur Auzon. The start point for our ride, carefully mapped into our navigator, now useless as the centre of town is closed to traffic, of all forms. A confusing conversation with a helpful policeman sets us on our way. Confusing as I could remember none of the names of the first few towns we plan to ride through, and can only wave my arms in the general direction I think they lay. He is able to interpret this and point us to the correct way out of town.
The first 5km gives you most of the items on your list as we follow narrow lanes through orchards, vineyards and olive groves. The climb, it starts after 6km.
The climb is exactly as you’d want. Not overly long, as I seem to recall from reviewing the profile, maybe 6-8km long, and not steep, starting at 3%-4%, touching 5% in places, with a km or so of 7%. Once on the climb we leave behind the agriculture and enter a forest, that for certain was on your list.
If you are here on a scenic tour, you would enjoy this hill. If you are a cyclist, you will hammer it!
And hammer it I do. The legs, well mostly the butt, are still very sore from the effort on Ventoux, and I revert to being a tourer once or twice and stop to take a photo. But for the most part, I keep the cadence close to 100 and right from the bottom I drive for the top.
Taking notice of the scenery? Of course, we’re on holidays …
At 7km into the climb, what am I doing? I’m goin for it, because by my reckoning, this being a 6-8km long hill, there can only be 1km to go.
If, after 10km I’m still climbing, where am I? I’m in the hurt locker. Deep inside the locker, with the door shut and a growing sense that someone has bolted it on the outside. All notion of being on a ride in Provence has disappeared, as my focus narrows to the few metres in front me and a determination to maintain the cadence no matter the pain. The forest – pretty? Apparently, or so I was told afterwards. I notice more and more the bumpy road causing the bike to bounce around beneath me.
At 12km into this 8km long hill (!), I am in pain. All of it self inflicted. I really must take more notice of the course profile I think to myself. Don’t you understand, it’s not the gradient that matters, it’s the intensity that it’s ridden at. It is at this point, thinking I must be topping out soon, I put it in the big ring, ‘well it can’t be any harder’, and gun it. 500m later, back to small, and the top still nowhere in sight.
Finally, after 15km of climbing, I reach St Huberts, an old guest house marking the top of the climb and now operating as a Gite de France. Lathered in sweat, panting, I get no acknowledgement from the old man sitting on the rock wall in front of St Huberts. Thankfully, this is the highest point of the ride, although there are other ups, it is more down than up.
After recovering in the shade of a huge tree for a while, we start the descent but stop again soon after: stopped by the view. The view literally stopped us in our tracks. Missing from your list would have been a gorge. And had you added it, you would still not have imagined the view we had now.
La Gorge de La Nesque. WOW! We knew this route took us through a gorge, but we had no idea how spectacular. It is great. In fact, the idea for this route came from a tourist brochure, but before you look down your nose at us, remember this, Arapilies – arguably the best climbing cliff in Australia, was discovered by climbers via a tourist brochure.
The view we have now is merely a taste of what is to come. We are on a hill looking across a plateau to the gorge. The next 5-10km takes us across the plateau, first away from and then into the gorge via a long arc.
When we next see the gorge we are entering it on a slight rise. Near the top, as you get close to the lookout one lane of the road is closed and the lookout full of people in costume. I ask one of the locals directing traffic what it is all about: ‘a monument to Provence is being opened’ is what I understood him to say, my French improving.
From there, to the finish in Villes sur Auzon, bar one brief rise, was all downhill. And all but the last kilometre or two of the next 25km were in the gorge. The road dropping gradually but continually down one side of the gorge, hugging the cliff in places, cutting through it in others.
Until now we had been almost completely alone on the road, with barely a car or bike passing us. Once in the gorge it was like being part of a mass participation event, with loads of cyclists making their way up the hill; singly, in pairs and even many bunches and everyone in a good mood with lots of hellos and waves.
Scenic winding roads are also attractive to motos, and they are here in numbers as well. Blapping past us and dodging the sports cars overtaking the ascending cyclists. Reason enough to again be nervous on the blind corners.
What else was missing from your list? A market. The roads of Villes had been closed for the market, which we ride through now to get back to the car.
The Numbers
Distance: 68km
Height Gained: 1,050m
