Riding Mont Ventoux with NO TRAINING | Rob Warner tries Road Cycling

After years of neglecting his fitness, Rob Warner accepts an audacious challenge from Eliot to complete the infamous Mont Ventoux before the 2025 Tour de France arrives there.

After a failed attempt earlier in the year, and Eliot bringing in cycling experts to support him, Rob feels the pressure to finally complete the challenge! Words of encouragement from Tom Pidcock, Finn Iles, Jolanda Neff and Geraint Thomas all prove valuable as he battles the heat and steepness on road cycling’s most infamous climb.

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The most entertaining podcast in cycling, join Rob Warner and Eliot Jackson – the most entertaining voices on two wheels to discover new and exciting disciplines and captivating stories as they delve into an array of cycling adventures.

Oh my god. What the am I doing? This is insane. Ah, I’m done. There’s no air up here. Oh, come on. Yes. What am I doing? For the second time in my life, I’m in France trying to ride up one of the toughest and most famous climbs the tour to France has to offer. Mon von 2. The pros, they blitz up this thing in about an hour. Me? Well, it turns out that my challenge wasn’t how fast I could get to the top. It was whether I’d get there at all. Brutal, man. Mount Vanu. Rob is going to try to already tried it. And he failed. What do you mean? He could He couldn’t run to the top. That’s basically just No, I did try and go up it and failed. What does failing look like? Shaking like a [ __ ] dog. While my first utterly disastrous attempt and failure was just a personal challenge, Elliot, he did not intend to keep it that way for the next try. I think you don’t really realize how escalated it’s already gotten. What have you done? The first thing I did was was let every single person I know know about this and they gave you some advice. The hardest bit is the top. You get more of an altitude. What? Less oxygen up there. Yeah, you can do it. Don’t bonk Rob. Do you think he can do it? Yeah. Yeah, for of course. Yeah. I mean, just going Yeah. Just to get up. Yeah. If you just ate, you would have been all right. And now that Elliot’s gone and told the entire world of cycling I’m doing this. Well, there’s no backing out now, is there? Bonjour. [Applause] Couldn’t get anywhere with that. So, two months later, I’ve come crawling back, ready to face my old nemesis. Look at that. Everything about this climb is depressing when you’re doing it. The long straights, the way mark as you go by about the whole thing sucks. Look how hard it is. He ain’t got a lower gear either. Go on, mate. A look how steep it is. Oh my god. But it’s pretty tough in an air conditioned van. So last time I came here, I left car park late in the afternoon and thought, “Yeah, a couple of hours I’ll be up here.” I did. I actually thought, “No problem.” I’m averaging 196 watts now. That good enough to power a light bulb. I know. One bottle of water, a Kit Kat, with food. And you know, because when I go riding at home, that’s like I won’t even take that. Usually the thing I’ve missed, you don’t coast here. You can’t even stop pedaling. Like it’s massive effort all the way. I’ve never ridden a bike as long uphill as this. Probably never even ridden on the flat that long. In the ‘9s on training rides, if the road went uphill, much to the amusement of my teammates, I would get off and walk as a protest. Training that was never part of the plan. Brutal, man. Basically, I’ve spent my whole life avoiding pedaling. And about halfway up is where I really started to pay the price for that. And I kept going up here to what is called Shallow Rainard, like a pretty famous restaurant before the final push. I don’t know. But Shallow Rainard is as far as I got. I don’t think I got it in me. I just don’t feel good. I’m shaking. I have had enough. So, I’m going to sign off for my Mononton attempt. I will come back maybe next year and try again. Um, fair play to anyone who gets up it. I’ve not seen this top section. I think it’s about 6k up there, but this last bit is supposed to be a bit easier. So, let’s let’s see if it is. I don’t think it will be to you. A little spoiler alert. It’s not. Oh my god. Look at it. Look at it up there. It is like the moon. It’s one of the strangest places I’ve ever been. So this is the last kick on one von 2. I’m getting me bike off to have a little go at it now because I looked on Straa and I found out the top pros on earth can go up at about 16 17 km an hour putting out about 325 watts of power. A man in the office has done the math. I need to put out about 450 500 watts of power in my weight to get the same sort of speed. Let’s have a go. I actually I don’t really want I’ll be honest with this. I’ve been forced to do this. I don’t really want to do it the day before I try and ride the whole thing. But yeah, here we go. I better play ball. [Music] I really hate physical effort. So, this is why this has taken a little longer than it should. [Music] Riding at pro pace for just an hour instead of three. Tempting. I mean, how hard can it be? 10 mph. That is about 16k there. 512 510 550 56 68 580 [Music] I’m done. I’m done. That’s it. It took me about 20 seconds to realize that trying to ride up Bontu at to France pace was a disastrous idea. So the performance is there just not for very long. I think it’s probably what we just learned. One of the biggest reasons I failed the first time was because I had a power meter but no idea at all of what any of the numbers meant. So Elliot tricked me into doing an FTP, whatever that is, test a month before. And yes, I should have asked more questions. I thought an FTP was something out of a computer to do with the server. Well, it wasn’t. It was about to get real bad real soon. First, I want to know your date of birth. Camera off. And sure enough, even worse. without the cap. But yeah, this is what didn’t remove it. You can’t fill the top of my head a hair transplant. What’s he doing? But what was that? Turns out FTP stands for functional threshold power. And this test tells exactly how many watts I can sustain for the whole von 2 climb. I don’t even know where to look. We just bumped up to 290. He’s being a he’s being a bit dramatic as we speak. So, I think one two is going to be um it’s be a struggle. This is uh this is it. Settle in. Settle in. Keep going. Keep going. This is the last one. You’re halfway through this one. You’re halfway through this. Come on. Nice Rob. That’s good. Not bad. Not bad at all. But all that suffering was worth it because science had a number for me. 2.1 W per kilogram. Yep. Good. Y despite Elliot’s very loud lack of support, I could still be proud because those numbers put me in the top 10% of my age group. Take that, Elliot. Most of of the men at your age are worse. I’m in the top 10% fittest people on the planet for my age. Yeah, just they’re doing nothing. Yeah, sitting. You’re well trained. I’ve had a I would say I’ve had a per what I would call a performance lifestyle all my life. Yeah, it’s good. This is a good thing. Yeah, we do it. Okay. Makes me feel very confident about monet. Cheers. So now I knew that if I would stay at around 160 watt, I would definitely be able to get to the top of Monvon 2. I was riding high on confidence after the test, but with just one day to go, I was in desperate need of encouragement and a few last minute survival tips. Hello, Broody. How are you mate? All right, I want to pick your brains. Tomorrow I’m going up one of France’s biggest mountains, Monvon 2. Hell, but just remember to just like eat like every 20 25 minutes. Just eat something good. Okay, mate. Brilliant. Just I think you should take an extra an extra bottle with just water to cool down maybe. I’ve got a support car. Oh my god. Oh, you was such a bro. And by the next morning, there wasn’t much optimism left to speak of. I’ll be honest with you right now, I’m having a massive battle whether I’m going to make it or not. And I know I think it will be more of a mental battle. I don’t know. It’s almost bad that we drove it yesterday cuz now I’ve seen the full extent of it and realized that it takes nearly an hour in a car. I feel a bit sick, but I think that might be nerves. I had a vegetable sauce last night cuz I thought vegetables are good for you. But now I got a bad stomach cuz I’m not used to vegetables. I was just trying to do the right thing. It’s like I never eat bananas, but now I’m eating three bananas in the start of the day. I never eat free bananas before I do leave the door. There’s loads of weird things going on. Jesus, that’s fumy. I’m ready. Do I look it? Oh my god. What the am I doing? This is insane. Ready? Mhm. Let’s go. 9% grade. Here we go. [Music] I’ve never done ridden by numbers before, so riding my feel is is more fun for me, I think. But on something this long and hard, I got to listen to the science or I ain’t going to make it. To what, mate? Yeah, [Music] I’m in the pancave a bit. I’m just over I’m cooked. Just cooked. It’s so hot. A few kilometers in, the heat started to take its toll. But the sun wasn’t the only thing that was about to slow me down. Rear tire soft. Yeah, it’s almost on the rim. What the is the pump out? Yeah. Can you pump it up? At least I was lucky to have a fantastic support team on my side. Can you get me something to wipe my face down? We We don’t have any. Can I have your t-shirt, mate? And you can put it back on. I used to let me tires down at World Cups if I didn’t like the track. I definitely don’t like this track. So, you never know. I just got to keep going. There’s nothing we can do. Yeah, we’ll just see how it goes. But I ain’t got a spare tube or anything. Good on you. How’s it going? I’m struggling a bit. Bit warm, isn’t it? I see you at the top. [Music] Bring us that pump. We can’t have a disaster like this. I’m halfway up bloody Mon 2. Oh my god. There it is coming out. Yeah. Bring the gaffer tape. Who the has ever gaffer tape? This is desperation. This is I’ve got a slow puncture personally as well. I’m deflating. Gradually average power 168. And despite the heat and lack of air in my tire and lungs, I made it to the point where I failed last time. Shallow rains in sight. That’s a good feeling. But this time, I did not stop. And I tell you what, I’m going to sod the numbers now and I’m going to go for it. I’m just going to enjoy this bit. I am going to summit von two. Flat tire or not, I’m doing it. Yeah, I think he sped up now. I tried to overtake him. Oh my. Let’s do this. The finish line was finally in sight. Oh god almighty. There’s the top. And for a moment, it felt like the training, the suffering, and the pressure from the whole cycling world might actually push me over that line. Oh, come on. 4% grade. What a treat. The main point is you need to want it. We’re going to do this. 3k to go. I am hurting now. It is pretty barren out here. [Music] Hello, mate. All right. Oh, this sucks. And then the last kick is probably like 10 11%. And you just hammer it up that basically try and bury yourself. Vulture is circling. [Music] 208 watt you go too. Oh my god. [Applause] [Music] 2 hours 50. Take it. Made it. I said I’d see you at the top. Oh my god. We made it. That That’s the most That is one of the most brilliant things I’ve ever done. I rode. I powered myself from the bottom of this mountain to the top. Chappo, anyone who’s done it. Chappo. Anyone who rides a tour to France and does this for 3 weeks. I’ve done this one. I’m never doing it again. What an achievement on a personal level. I know thousands of people do it, but for me, this is absolutely massive. And I’m a bit emotional. Incredible. It feels so good. I rode up bomb 2. Mother, if I hadn’t listened to the numbers, I wouldn’t have made it. I would know I made it. I never use science in anything I’ve done, you know. It wasn’t really about when I was a pro so much. Dr. The forester said don’t go over 160. I was at 180 190. Then I blew up a bit and I was like oh look what my average wattage has been from the bottom. So when you look at it the numbers absolutely add up. Yeah. That’s been a good day. That has so that is definitely the only time you’ll ever see me on Mononton 2 probably. But I have released the inner athlete in myself I didn’t know I had. And no matter what Elliot throws at me next, I will be prepared because this is one roadie pro who will not be resting on his laurels.