Day 3 of Cycling in Provence

 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 Mezze Plate

The Descent Down the Vaucluse Plateau . . . 

After lunch, the rain began to fall pretty steadily. Some of our group opted to get in the van and get a ride back to the hotel, while about half of us decided to finish the final 30 miles back to the hotel in the rain. We had thought that it 'was all downhill' after lunch, but quickly learned there was another 1,000 feet of climbing before we got to the big descent. Here is a shot from the summit before we began the big descent:


Jeff, Mike, Ned and I were riding together as we began the descent. The rain was falling steadily and we were all concerned about the safety of riding on the slick road. However . . . it also felt really good to go really fast 😁. Jeff, Mike and I were averaging 30 miles an hour and cruising as carefully as we could through the turns. Mike opted to get out ahead of us and began putting time between us. We were probably descending for 10 minutes or so, enjoying the cool breeze and raindrops in our faces as we pedaled down in to the valley when we came upon a sight one never wants to see . . . Mike had fallen off of his bike and was in the middle of the road laying on his back with his bike a few feet away from him. He had fallen maybe 1 minute before we arrived. Jeff, Ned and I pulled his bike out of the road and asked Mike what happened. He didn't remember, but was coherent. We didn't want to move him as we could tell he was hurt pretty bad.

For the next 50 minutes we tried to comfort Mike as we waited for the Backroads guides to arrive and call an ambulance. Mike obviously had a concussion as he kept repeating the same questions over and over again. But we were encouraged that he still had a sense of humor as we were telling him jokes. We could tell that his shoulder or collarbone was broken.

The ambulance arrived after about an hour and took Mike to the nearest hospital. A few of us opted to ride back to the hotel for the next 13 miles or so (in the rain). It had been a very sobering afternoon and we were all very very worried about Mike.

At dinner that night we got a few updates and it sounded like Mike was doing better than expected. He was released from the hospital at 11:30 that night and, miraculously, he joined us for breakfast the next morning.



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