Tour de l'oc: Wine trade charity ride from Tain-l'Hermitage to Collioure via Le Ventoux

The Ventoux from Rasteau January 2006

The Drinks Business:

'The ride will begin on Monday 1 June when the cyclists head south from a start point at the M. Chapoutier winery in Tain l’Hermitage, finishing at Collioure near the Spanish border on Thursday the same week – and the challenge has been dubbed the Tour de L’Oc, after the ancient name for the region, Occitania.

Organised by Mentzendorff managing director Andrew Hawes, this is the ninth charity cycle ride led by the head of the UK wine importer for Bollinger Champagne, and probably the hardest. Taking in the punishing ascent of Mont Ventoux, the intrepid wine trade cyclists will have to climb the 1912 metre mountain, famous for its barren summit and high winds.'

'Importantly, the aim of the cycling challenge is to raise a target of £30,000 of vital funds for the drinks industry charity The Benevolent.'

Read the rest here.

The ten cyclists include Patrick Schmitt, the editor of The Drinks Business: 
 

Patrick Schmitt:
'For the first time in four years I’m bringing out my bicycle for more than the daily 10 kilometre trundle to work, and this time it’s for the toughest challenge I've ever entered. Starting in the northern Rhône in Tain-l'Hermitage on 1 June, and finishing four days later in the coastal town of Collioure, I’ll be covering around 500km across some of France’s most extreme terrain.

In particular, I’ll be climbing just short of 2,000m in a single ascent as the route includes Mount Ventoux – the hardest climb of the legendary Tour de France, and famous among biking fans for claiming the life of English cyclist Tom Simpson.
My preparation? A few rides round Richmond park. I’ve also bought some new rims for my bike, which is now almost 15 years old and dented and scratched like a beer keg.

Like the last long distance ride I attempted in 2011, this is a personal test, but it’s also for an extremely good cause, so once more I’ll be raising funds for The Benevolent – The Drinks Industry Charity. I urge you to visit their website to read more about their good work, but I should say here that it’s being brilliantly run by David Cox to really support the most needy in the drinks trade.

All that's left to say is thank you very much for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page and any donation would be hugely appreciated.'

https://www.justgiving.com/Patrick-Schmitt1

https://www.justgiving.com/Andrew-Hawes3/ 

https://www.justgiving.com/AlanMontagueDennis2015/https://www.justgiving.com/AlanMontagueDennis2015/

I hope the ride goes well. Certainly climbing Mont Ventoux, I assume from the Bedoin side, was the toughest climb I ever did. It's a long, steep unrelenting climb and likely to take some of them a good two hours. I trust, in addition, to buying new rims for his bike, Patrick has made sure that he has suitably low gears for the Ventoux.