DescriptionOne for the climbers. Views over the mountains and Lake Orta from the summit. The climb is through woodland so offers a lot of shade on a sunny day.

The col de Chamrousse (1795 m.) can be climbed by road bike from 3 sides. By far the hardest is the tiny but ueber steep route from Sechilienne.

The climb from Lancey is in the shade in the morning, at least as far as le Mas Julien. Afterwards it is pretty exposed but the road to the power station at the head of the valley has been resurfaced.

There are four routes up the Col de la Madeleine on the south sideThe normal route from la Chambre - 19.5km with some 40 wide hairpins.

A serious tour along the cycle path to St Gervais then up and over the Rencurel pass before dropping down to take the Gorges de Bourne but as you can see from the GPS map they were closed.

50km loop linking the lakes Orta and Maggiore via the summit of the Mottarone mountain. The Orta lake road is u quite busy as is the road from Lake Maggiore to Gravellone Toce.

The Relais du Mont du Chat is 1266 meters of climbing at just under 10%. There are a few ramps of 12% and sections of 11%. It is consistently hard, without ever being too extreme but it is long.

Lacets de MontvernierThis hairpin road connects the mountain villages of Montvernier, Montpascal and Montbruna.

This is the classic climb in the area to the ski resort of Mottarone from Stresa. From the coast road follow road signs for Mottarone near the Borremeo Palace Hotel.

A big ride with Mike from Aime la Plagne to the Petit St Bernard pass. We'd heard it was still closed to traffic from la Ros so thought it would be a good plan.