Sunday in Sault was our day for attempting to summit Mont Ventoux, the giant of Provence, and a regular fixture on the Tour de France. Today, though, was not our day. Our first hiccup was not realising that the road from Sault was closed from Chalet Reynard to the summit for four hours (0830 to 1230) for the running of a half-marathon from Bedouin to the summit. This kind of suited us, as the day started out cold and windy (after the massive thunderstorm last night, breaking the heat wave France has endured for a week or so), but the forecast was for conditions to improve. It was fairly easy riding without panniers up to Chalet Reynard (or would have been without the wind!). Expecting to wait for a while before the road opened meant that we took our time and stopped at the lookouts to take in the views, even if hampered by the clouds and the very strong and gusty winds. Once we got to the Chalet Reynard (20 km from Sault, 6 km from the summit), we could see the marathon runners milling about. Eventually it dawned that the organisers had cancelled the last leg of the run from the Chalet to the summit, as it was so cold and windy. Later, some hours later, after returning to Sault the conditions then (which were supposed to be improving over the day) were 100 km/h winds gusting to 120 km/h, the temperature 5 degC, but feeling like -1 degC. After the road opened (earlier than the 1230 advertised due to the premature end of the marathon), we saw several groups of strong riders head up the road towards the summit, but they all turned around as soon as they got into the full force of the wind, and headed back down again. We had spent an hour waiting and procrastinating, and were entertained by the music system rigged for the running event, and seeing the runners stagger in (we were seeing the tail-enders). They all seemed to get a rousing reception, though the very last runners had a very thin crowd, as a bus load of runners had left the freezing cold and headed down before the last runners had finished. So ended our attempt this time. With the miles in the legs, and how we felt getting to the Chalet, I am very confident we could have reached the top if the conditions were kinder. As we descended the mountain, we encountered another hazard, or rather, many hazards. It seems that Sunday is boy racer day on the mountain. Cars were tearing up the mountain, in bunches of 5 to 15, nose to tail, tyres screeching in the corners, swerving to avoid bike riders. The road we were on is narrow, with no dividing line, and there were many other bicycle riders (some only young teens) on it as well. Because we started our climb up the mountain well before the advertised opening of the road we gained a false impression of how busy/popular the summit climb is. At first it seemed like only a few dickheads were on the road, but then it got worse, and it seemed that they were taking more risks - or maybe my nerves were shaken. A few times we pulled right off narrow sections to let a group of them pass, but it seemed like a never ending stream. It was a relief to get off the mountain safely and head back for lunch, and then a peaceful afternoon wandering about Sault.