Day 9 Aubenas to Bedoin 86.7miles (8511ft)

It's probably hard to imagine but everyday we get up and start cycling and everyday the scenery that we ride through just gets more spectacular. The more impressive the landscape generally the more effort that is required to cycle through or over it though especially to obtain the views at the top of the hills.

Leaving our hotel in Aubenas behind we started the day as ever with a large climb. My legs were greatly improved by the cold dip in the swimming pool at the end of day 8. It certainly helped my recovery as the usual heaviness of the first few miles was missing today. Repeat days riding requires rapid recovery from the previous day's efforts and this is where the investment in training will really pay dividends.

We headed south towards Vallon Pont D'Arc stopping in a lovely little restaurant perched on the hillside for our now ritual morning coffee. Breaking the day up into sections and stopping for coffee, lunch and afternoon breaks means the total mileage can be broken down into more manageable goals. The day actually seems to pass rather quickly this way. 

Dougie, enjoying the sunshine on his back! He is making massive endurance improvements each day and slowly we are turning him from a 'Tourer' to a full on 'Roadie' cyclist.

A little reminder that we are cycling past Montelimar (home of Nougat) today was presented with our coffee. 

Our support crew all joined us for coffee and then Rob managed to get some more video footage and photos for the Twitter feeds etc. as we left to continue our journey (follow the ride on Twitter @L2C_2015)

At Vallon Pont D'Arc we joined the Ardèche river and rode up the eroded river valley along the gorges. It's a popular tourist spot and we could see the kayaks passing up the river full of tourists admiring the view. I couldn't decide if it was more or less effort to see the gorges this way. No doubt cooler as the sun was now out and the temperature rising as we did. 35  degrees Celsius is what my Garmin told me it reached today. 

 

A little further up the valley is the Pont D'Arc a natural formation of rock spanning the river. 

 

After just a few miles more the road sweeps up to run along the top of the gorges with a steep climb averaging 9% gradient and a tunnel as well. Jamie who has appeared fearless up until this point felt uneasy in the tunnel which was incredibly dark and rather longer than you would wish for on a bike. However she made it through with the determination and perseverance of someone who is on a mission to succeed and we can't wait to see Jamie arrive in Cannes to prove all her doubters wrong. For someone who has only been cycling for a couple of years she has been incredibly consistent and strong. 

After a few more photo stops at the top of the large climb we continued up the valley eventually emerging into a plateau and a vineyard for our picnic lunch. 

Just time for another cheese baguette and Simon (our team mechanic) to bike faff all the bike issues people have each day. Then we pushed on for the last few miles skirting around the edge of tomorrow's climb. Mount Ventoux is a monument of cycling history and is a legendary climb. Not just as the place of Tommy Simpsons death but also for the severity of its 22km climb. 

Entering Provence the vineyards were abundant and the roads flatter than this morning. You can just see the summit of the Ventoux in the distance in the image below.

By now the temperature had soared and passing a water fountain was a good opportunity to cool off. 

Either that or John was trying to drown himself rather than face the climb tomorrow. He isn't a fan of hills it seems. 
Soon the signs were all around us with names of places long associated with this climb. It can be climbed from three directions. Tomorrow we will take the road from Bedoin to the top so our hotel tonight is just outside of Bedoin and is a fabulous place. I hope to be back one day soon.

It's clearly a Mecca for cyclists, they are everywhere even the chap in the hotel claims to have one been a soigneur for Chris Boardman when he rode for the Gan and Credit Agricole trade teams in France. 

The treat at the end of the day was a lovely French supper in the hotel where Helen and Phillipe Duchamp joined us.  Helen is John's niece and has been a great help to us speaking her fluent French to hotels and restaurants along our route to ensure food and beds were available in the correct numbers each day. 

So it's a big Merci Beaucoup to Helen and Phillipe! 

Bon Nuit all. Big day tomorrow.