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news
Miriam and Poppy Goode (picture via Monkton Sports on Twitter).jpgSeven-year-old girl from Bath rides up Mont Ventoux
A seven-year-old girl from Bath has ridden up Mont Ventoux in Provence – and is thought to be the youngest cyclist ever to have done so.
Miriam Goode rode up the mountain nicknamed the Géant de Provence with her teddy bear in the back pocket of her jersey and with her 10-year-old sister Poppy pedalling alongside her.
The pair were accompanied by their mother Miranda, while their father Jonny followed them in a support car on their ride earlier this month, reports the Bath Chronicle.
Chapeau to Poppy (10) and Mimi (7) for conquering Le Géant de Provence, Mont Ventoux! Hugely proud of them! @monkton @TeamSky @frogbikes pic.twitter.com/Anse8BBuUx
— Monkton Sport (@monktonsport) August 9, 2017
They rode on Team Sky-branded Frog bikes and among those offering their congratulations on Twitter was one of the team’s riders, Luke Rowe.
That's impressive, well done guys
— Luke Rowe (@LukeRowe1990) August 12, 2017
After finishing her 2 hour 20 minute ride to the 1,912-metre summit where she was cheered by other cyclists, Miriam said: "I enjoyed the challenge and that people were so amazed and taking photos of us.”
Her sister Poppy added: “The best bit was going through the woods and getting to eat lots of sweets to keep up our energy."
The youngsters attend Monkton Prep School in Combe Down where their parents work as boarding houseparents.
The Bath Chronicle says that the girls and their mother spent a month training for their exploit. Handily, one of the city’s toughest climbs is right outside where they live.
Their father Jonny said: “We are so delighted with both Miriam and Poppy’s efforts. Both feel extremely proud of what they have achieved and loved the fact they were the youngest cyclists on the mountain!
"Monkton is a school where we encourage all the children to participate in as many sports as possible, whatever their level and ability.
“As well as the traditional team sports, we want the children to have the opportunity to experience triathlons and biathlons, learning to love exercise and making it part of their daily lives as they grow up,” he added.
Last year, Alfie Earl from Islington rode up Mont Ventoux at the age of nine.
> Nine-year-old boy climbs Ventoux and Stelvio inside 48 hours
He wasn’t the youngest cyclist at the time to have conquered the mountain, with an eight-year-old believed to have previously ridden up it on a mountain bike.
Lex Reurings, who runs the Dutch language website De Kale Berg (‘the Bare Mountain’) ad has written a book about Mont Ventoux, believes Miriam is the youngest to have cycled up it, and certainly from the Bédoin side, the route usually taken by the Tour de France when it is included on the parcours.
I cannot find someone younger than 8 years, so yes, I think so. And most kids climb from Sault which is less hard.
— DeKaleBerg (@kaleberg) August 12, 2017
In an article on the De Kale Berg website, Reurings highlights some of the youngsters who have taken on and defeated the mountain, and concludes with the question, “Is it healthy to undertake such a heavy effort at such a young age?”
The article quotes paediatric cardiologist Katya De Groote, who told HLN.be: “Parents with children who are keen about cycling needn’t worry too much.
“Any sporty child who is used to some effort and is well prepared for the climb can take it on.
“Of course, it’s not justified if your child only does a 20-kilometre bike ride once a year, but I assume that the children of sporty parents get enough exercise themselves.”
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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16 comments
Down mines or up chimneys? Luxury!! Now, when I were a lad....
Yes but...
...I bet they didn't have to get off and run part way up it in cleats.
2h20 at seven years old? That beggars belief.
I don't think you can spout bile? You can spew bile though if it helps. I think you are looking for the comments section of the Telegraph, they only do 'serious' there.
2old wins the Internet today!
Simon were you not reading, he'd need a big fuck off rock after all the beer and kebabs...
Fantastic!
As for the detractors, yeah we've heard it all before. You are welcome to spout your uninformed bile then crawl back under your little rock.
Like clockwork... Some people live to be offended.
Nobody's disparaging anything. Away and run through your wheat field.
Easy now... there'll be someone along soon denying they're a pushy parent, or (my favourite) a white knight twerp accusing you of being jealous of a primary school kid.
No idea what these kids are like, no idea how pushy or not the parents are. Massive kudos all round. Some kids' exploits end up in the meeja, and others' don't, and that is down to the parents.
I know I am going to get slated for this but...
Really?
Anyone riding up Mt Ventoux deserves kudos but this trend toward pushy middle-class parents throwing their children up climbs in the hope of achieving some form of fame has a whiff of something I can't put my finger on by am not sure I like. I dont want to pi** on their BBQ but what is more impressive is a middle-aged man with years of neglect and personally administered physical abuse and internal organs hanging onto their functionality by a thread dragging himself up Mt Ventoux in the knowledge that no f**ker outside his immediate circle of friends and family is going to care less regardless of whether he has his Rupert the Bear tucked down the back of his jersey like a misshapen bidon.
The odds of a successful climb are stacked in the child's favour - power to weight and no lingering knee injury that you tell people was from playing Rugby but was actually caused from slipping on beer in a Barnsley nightclub while trying to do the running man. They have lungs that have never hoovered up industrial quantities of second-hand smoke from pubs and clubs in the late 80's nor are there arteries hardened by the tonnes of 'beige' food ingested after those very same late nights out.
Next we'll have herds of barely post-natal sprogs winging their way up Galibier like a gushing tide of salmon just so their parents can go back to Hampshire and declare that Jonty or Camilia was the youngest ever up whatever Col at the ripe old age of 6 weeks, before turning on the TV and weeping at the news that Popsey or Piers from literally two doors down managed to get up there aged just 5 weeks and 6 days.
Perhaps this is an example of how little we expect from our children these days. A hundred years ago kids younger than this were up chimneys, or down a mine pulling wagons full of coal. My great grandfather would have crawled up Mt Ventoux on his hands and knees for a day in the sunshine when he was that age.
Yes, well done girls, good effort and top marks. Well done mummy and daddy too, looking forward to hearing
what else you have plannedwhat else your girls suggest for their next epic adventure.2o2m
Oh 2o2m......
I want so badly to rip into this comment , but reality is this is strangely well written piece with a good balance of humour and natural cynicism.
You may have referenced a few clichés, but then I realised I was one of them myself as a gravitationally challenged cyclist, who has had one op on each knee after too long playing rugby, who once ventured up Ventoux myself.
Chapeau to the kids for making it up. I drained 4 bidons on the way up (filled up Chalet Reynard) and still had a mouth like the Attacama most of the way up. Large bobbles of sweat appeared on my arms without rolling off to attract the flies in the woods the size of hang gliders.
I'm jealous the kids have found cycling so young and clearly enjoy it as a family activity. Isn't that what so many on these pages encourage us to do. I only wish I had discovered the joy of road cycling not do close to starting my second bicentennial period of life.
If I can keep away from the siren call of the eBike for another 10-15 years, I could be happy. Although by then, it would be a darn sight quicker..
Great ride and looked like they had a lovely day for it.
4 years since I did it on a similar day
What a tremendous achievement, for both children.
As an aside, I wonder whether their Dad's middle name begins with a B?
I am not sure of my time, but it must be depressingly close to that - can I get some odds on them for stage wins of the womens tour or gold medals now?
What a week! First Chris Hoy telling me what to wear and now 7 year-olds riding better than me.
Chapeau!
Brilliant!
Well done. That is one hard climb...
What. A. Pair. Of. Legends.
Chapeau, indeed!