The road to Ventoux - Part 19
The Ventoux3 challenge is raising money for the Out of the Blues charity at https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/outoftheblues.
It’s been a tough last 10 days training wise. Somehow, I have (so far) managed to dodge the COVID bullet. However, I managed to pick up a cold while on a work trip to Stockholm that turned into sinusitis. This is something to which I have been prone, but I have not suffered from it since well before the pandemic. Like lots of others, I have benefited from lock downs, social distancing, masks and hand washing in avoiding getting “regular viruses”, not just COVID. For me, the bad thing about sinusitis is not just the sensation that my head is about to explode, but that it leaves me feeling washed out and my legs feeling weak and sore. Not great when I am preparing for the toughest physical challenge I have ever undertaken. Two or three sessions had to be shortened, taken more easily or missed all together. However, today I am starting to feel nearly back to normal. I managed a session indoors comfortably tonight, albeit not the hardest one in the world.
As my challenge gets ever closer, I have taken to checking the weather in Bedoin (where I will be based at the foot of Ventoux) and, critically, on the summit. The weather forecast for the first three days of April (see photo) rather illustrate why I have not fixed the date for the challenge to a single day but rather three days to choose from. The temperature in Bedoin on Sunday 3rd April is forecast to be 13°C, while at the top of the mountain it is forecast to be about 5°C below freezing with the wind chill from a light wind. This would just about be manageable. However, two days before on Friday 1st April, while Bedoin is forecast to be just two degrees cooler, the summit will be in the order of 20°C below freezing! This is largely du to winds predicted to be between 50 and 70 kph (30 to 45 mph). It would be impossible to cycle in such winds, let alone that temperature. So I have to hope that I won’t get three days in a row when I plan to do the challenge that are like the weather this Friday!!
Don’t forget the www.NorthernMentalHealth.org site that provides a wealth of advice around dealing with isolation, self-management of anxiety and depression. Please have a look at the site and share it with others – there is something there for everybody.
I wish everybody the very best and I hope you all stay healthy. Whatever your situation, try to make exercise of one sort or another a part of your daily/weekly routine. If you want to get involved in the Ventoux3 for Out of the Blues challenge in any way, then drop me an email at hamish.mcallister-williams@newcastle.ac.uk. The dates are now confirmed as the 2nd or 3rd June, with a reserve day of the 4th. The exact day will be weather determined (see above!!).
Hamish McAllister-Williams