It had been a while since I'd ridden to Quarna Sotto. The climb is a nice 8% gradient up a series of switchbacks on the flank of the mountain which I managed at around a VAM of 735m/h.

A quick spin after too much walking in Italy to turn my legs.

Felt ok riding out, made it to St Romain, at the base of the climb, around 12h50 (30 minutes into the ride) and thought I'd try a bit of climbing on the Route de Mont Thou despite not having recovered

The Col de la Luère is situated at an altitude of 715 metres in the Monts du Lyonnais and separates the Brévenne and Yzeron valleys on the borders of the communes of Pollionnay and Saint-Pierre la Pal

With the end of the lockdown we decided to push out a little bit to this classic switchback descent. Unfortunately it started to rain, hard just as we were arriving.

General DescriptionThe climb to Quarna Sotto is 400 meters of vertical over 5km giving an average gradient of 8%. The switchbacks at the end are steeper.

Follow the Pierre Grosse trail. At the end of the 33 hairpins take the right fork rather than crossing the torrent on the left. After about 20 meters of descent cross the Corbonne stream.

From the Massons car-park follow the signs to the "La tour d'Arces" then "Pierre Grosse"; carry on past the Pierre Grosse on the left to the end of the trail.

I took this climb by error. From Lesa it is a hard 5.75km at 9% covering around 550 vertical meters. The road ends at a monastery and there is a very good trattoria with lake views.

We spent the first half of the ride dodging showers then decided to turn around where we met Colin, a Scots guy who'd punctured and had some issues with his tires.