A new way to the Col des Ayes for me, Via les Hurtieres (pretty climb with almost no cars) then in the village via the Col de la Croix de Theys and a 2km gravel section to rejoin les Berts and the col

The number of times I've ridden past this little dead end climb I finally decided to see where it goes. In fact the hamlet of le Frènet is quite extensive with some cute chalets etc.

Rebooting my cycling career with another climb across the valley, apart from the danger of being squashed by a speeding driver crossing over the valley it is much closer than the right bank for climbs

I've got the summer road bike fixed and working so decided to take it out for a spin. first real climbing this year and a return to an old favourite.

Quite a good ride today. 47 minutes for the climb (VAM of 940 m/h) which is not too bad. Nice to be feeling on better form due to cycling a bit more.

Usual mix of steep Italian ramps and bad roads. The surfaced road ends just after Cassano so this is just a little tour of the foothills. The Orta backcountry is not overly interesting.

I don't usually road bike until the spring but as the weather has been spring like I thought, why not? The Murianette is a shaded climb so not ideal at this time of year but it is relatively easy comp

No ski this weekend so I decided to use a spare hour and a half on Saturday afternoon to ride up and look at the snow conditions on the road to the Col du Coq.

I hadn't been out on the bike for some time so took the opportunity of a dry day to ride into work then up the Venon climb.

I crossed Jean Marc Mora on the climb to Lancey, I'd last seen him about 5 years ago.