To tell a story, when it’s a story about oneself, is to cultivate one’s “ego-centricity.”
So I’m not going to do it, because with Mount Ventoux it really wasn’t a question of a personal feat, but rather of a collaborative effort.

Do I dare say that I have mashed my pedals on Mount Ventoux, like Dante in Hell, and that the mountain has been crushed by a bloodthirsty man ?! This is not an ecological way of practicing either cycling or sport.

When one takes on a challenge, whether one succeeds or not, one comes back to it because there has been an exchange, of emotion, of an unspoken agreement, of an encounter with something (with nature). If I say that I have suffered a death it’s a way of saying that I have endured a confrontation and a defeat.

Let me say a few things about this Springtime day (September 20): I started out at night in a perfect luminosity, my head in the stars and my eyes on Mars. As dawn began to break I saw the sunrise as if at an infinite distance. During the day I scattered the sheep which blocked my way on the road. Several of the locals who I had met in warm sunlight now were plunging into the darkness to flush out several runaway goats. The nighttime silence was broken by the rustling of leaves all around, and by the sound of late-arriving cars.

I can’t talk about this without mentioning my support team, which was as unassuming as it was efficient, and strong in its conviction that I would not stop this mountain dance.

To speak about this feat is immediately to imagine how important it is to foresee the times of drifting and the need for recourse to the " exogenous aids " which boost the muscles but at the expense of dissociating the athlete.

Happiness approached from the egocentric point of view leads to a false utopia which always ends in frustration. True happiness (as the Buddhists tell us) resides in an inner state and not in the attainment of unlimited desires projected into the external world.

Pause for a moment at the summit of Mount Ventoux, just breathe and open your eyes wide. From the summit we can see everything as if from a distance –our triumphs and our traumas lose their importance. Whatever we may have gained or lost is down there far below us.

From high up on the mountain top you can see the vastness of the world and the far reaches of the horizon. From this perspective you can come down in search of happiness in other realms than those of consumption and competition

Ah, I almost forgot : How many times did I climb Mount Ventoux ?
5 times, 7 times, 8 times, 100 times, 300 times? I don’t know, I’m not counting.
But it’s always the first time, always the first climb.
I will be coming back. Always...

When all is said and done, I’m not particularly fond of myself; I don’t think of myself as great at all, I am not pleased with myself. These “feats” are nothing but dressing.

Hervé Morel for JDC. 01/2004. Rights reserved.
Translated by Ian Jackson
Photo H.M. Rights reserved.