Mont Ventoux 2016

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Follow-up of the project

The day finally arrived, June 5th. : the long expected climb of the Mont Ventoux as benefit for the projects of vzw Vleugels van Hoop, the by us selected Good Cause.
A nervous atmosphere! Nobody really expressed it but the tension was there.

The start was planned at 10h00 from Sault. For some of us it was the first time they saw the Mont Ventoux. At the start point also the members of Vleugels van Hoop with family and friends were waiting for us. Also Rudy Boedts was present; he is living in the neighbourhood, born in Veurne, and noticed our challenge on Facebook.
The cameras were actively used. First some group pictures were taken. Then it was the moment to start the climb (26 km). The start sign was given with enthusiastic encouragements from all our fans. They gave us ‘Wings’.

The ambitions were diverse. One wanted to set a sharp time, others didn’t want to touch the ground during the climb but we all had 1 common target: To reach the top !!
During the whole climb we were encouraged, photographed, the flag of Vleugels was flapping…en we kept on cycling, stamping and climbing. We knew in the end the worst part was still to come. From Chalet Reynard it is still 6 km to go, at a climbing rate between 7 and 11%. The smiles disappeared on most of our faces and a grim facial expression appeared instead.

The first arriving at the top was Jens, the youngest of our group, who did set a splendid time of 1h42.   Eric, our Flandrien, did it all his way and cycled through the red figures on heart beat and arrived as second one.
Also Marc did very well and arrived swearing, closely followed by Eddy. Eddy staid with his wife Rita till 7 km from the top and ended with a sprint.
Our first lady was Fabienne, who reach the top in her own style, tired but satisfied. Afterwards Rita and Isabelle arrived.

The next one was Dirk. A tremendous performance knowing had a very bad cycling accident 9 months before, followed by lots of months of revalidation!
Everybody was somewhat worried as we knew that the challenge would be tough for Ilse! Raf and Stefaan  arrived together with the news that Ilse was shortly following them. Under lots of loud cheers, from all bikers, the Vleugels-fans and even strangers, Ilse reached the top!
Everybody made it…. a tremendous relief. We celebrated the huge achievement together with a glass of champagne and were intense happy we could do this for Vleugels van Hoop.
It was a great experience which we maybe will redo …

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Images

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