Provence Cycling - May 2023

It's All (or Mostly) About the Wine! One of the reasons many of us were excited to travel to Provence is the wine produced there. Of course, there are amazing wines produced all over France, but the red wine produced in Provence happens to be my personal favorite of all the wines in the world. During our trip we learned that 93% of the wine produced in Provence is red wine. Some of these well-known red wines include Cotes du Rhone, Gigondas and Chateauneuf du Pape (more on these later). We were somewhat surprised to learn that the white wines of this region are also extremely compelling.  We began day one of our Backroads Bike trip in the small village of Chateaneuf du Pape. From there we rode north to Uchaux. On day two we biked from Uchaux to Gigondas. This means we were biking through two of my very favorite wine regions in the first two days! Gigondas vs. Chateauneuf du Pape We learned a lot about the different wines by trying them, of course. However, I also did a little resea...

The Luberon Valley . . .  On Day Four, we again left from our hotel, Crillon De Brave at about 9 am. We were all so relieved to have seen Mike at breakfast that it gave us a bit more "skip in our step." Once again the plan was to ride about 30 miles before lunch with some fairly significant climbing (around 3,000 feet). Personally, I have always liked putting in some solid miles prior to lunch as it makes for a better appetite 😁 The riding on Day Four (Wednesday, May 10th) was absolutely gorgeous and the weather was fabulous as well. Here's what the route looked like on Strava: Crillon le Brave to Joucas: 51 total miles We stopped in a small, family-owned restaurant called 'Le Crillon' in the town of Joucas for lunch. The food and the service at this restaurant was top notch. Most of us enjoyed having some of the local white wines with lunch -- even though we are riding. This region is known for it's RED wines, not as much for their white wines. We learned th...

 Big Day of Riding and Big Weather Changes . . . and a Crash😟 Day 3 of our Provence Backroads adventure had a lot of emotional ups and downs. We started at our hotel, Crillon le Brave in the morning and hit the road at 9 am. Today was a day of big climbs. Some of our group opted to climb the infamous Mt. Ventoux, while the rest of us opted to climb the Gorges de la Nesque. The group climbing Mt. Ventoux would climb a total of 6,500 feet, while the rest of us would end up with a little more than 3,500 feet over 60 miles. The climb up Gorges de la Nesque was absolutely spectacular and was surprisingly gradual with beautiful views. The plan was to ride about 30 miles before lunch with about 2,000 feet of climbing (the folks riding up Mt. Ventoux would put in 4,000 feet of climbing before lunch). We met in the town of Sault for lunch. Leaving Crillon le Brave for the Big Climbs View from Gorges de la Nesque Climb Susan and me at the top of Gorges de la Nesque Lunch in Sault - The Mezz...

The Cycling Mileage and Elevation Begin to Ramp up . . .  On Monday we began the more intense phase of our cycling trip as we left the Uchaux region and headed to Gigondas and the Cotes du Rhone region and our next hotel -- Le Crillon de Brave .  Preparing For Our Second Day or Riding In the morning as we gathered up our bikes and listened to the two Backroads leaders, Geoffrey and Nico give us the details of the day's route, we noticed that it was extremely windy. Cycling n the wind is not easy, so some of us were a bit concerned about the toll the wind would take on us over the course of a long day. We learned that it is often windy in Provence and the wind we were experiencing is called the  Mistral  and is defined as  " a cold dry north or northwest wind, which blows down through the  Rhone Valley  to the Mediterranean, and can reach speeds of ninety kilometers an hour." Fortunately, the wind subsided after a few hours and we experienced a beautifu...

 Arrival in Avignon We arrived in Avignon on Saturday, May 6th, having taken the train from Paris that afternoon. Avignon is one of the largest cities in Provence and it serves as our jumping off point for the Backroads cycling trip. Jeff and Yvette Giller and Susan and I were staying at the same hotel in Avignon and we went to a great local restaurant for dinner on that Saturday night. Avignon sits on the banks of the Rhone River, one of Europe's largest rivers -- and it also happens to be the river that runs through my favorite wine region 😁 Avignon Main Square Our Hotel In Avignon - Le Divine Comedie Susan Looking out at the Rhone River First Day of the Cycling Adventure . . .  We got up fairly early on Sunday morning and went for a walk around Avignon. After that it was time to take a taxi to the Avignon train station to meet up with our Backroads leaders and the rest of our group. We had a total of 6 couples from Santa Barbara on this trip and we knew that there would a...