Etape Recon DVD

I finally got round to watching the whole of the Etape 2009 Recon DVD from Cyclefilm. Ed cane round and we settled down to be scared witless by a big mountain.

The DVD started off with the presenter giving us a tour of a Nougat factory in Montellimar where the race starts. Whilst this was funny, we wanted to see the route.

The part of the DVD we were most looking forward too was the hills before Mont Ventoux. We know Ventoux is very very big and will take 2 hours to climb but it was the hills before that we had no idea about. So seeing the rider explain each climb was useful. It seems that none of them are that steep but they are quite long and will take it out of you. Pacing yourself carefully up these is vital if you don't want to blow-up on Ventoux.

Seeing Ventoux was quite incredible. It just seems like such a long slog but visualising passing the Simpson memorial and then up to the mast sent goosebumps down my back. Its going to be a great day in July.