Little afternoon ride before the TdF finish.

Cycling in the Alps is starting to get depressing. The PR at the Col d'Hurtières belongs to a certain Colin Savioz on Strava, 24 minutes. I took 50 for 700m over 8km.

a bit of exploration. Took a "short cut" Gozzano - through "mirkwood" - an unpaved forest road.

I've cycled around the lake of Orta before, in both directions. In my opinion the climb out of Omegna is the easiest even if it is sun exposed as the gradient is never severe.

Very hard today, ok once I got onto the Coiromonte hairpins although 5 min of my PB - 19m49s instead of 14m33 - 25% ! Although I blame 28mm rather than 25mm tires.

I'd intended to climb to Alpe Loccia but it was too hot and I'm not on form at the moment so cut my climb short by taking the Loreglia loop back to Omegna.

A little lunch ride to turn the legs, about 1h10 for the loop and 28 mins for the climb, a bit off my PB but I haven't ridden much this year and it felt sufficiently quick.

First time out on my rebuilt Spitfire where I didn't get a puncture but at the same time I didn't ride on any gravel.

I've filed this under mountain biking but I was on a road bike with 28mm tires. A bit of gravel in the valley then a longish climb on gravel. This was more or less ok.

First longish ride of the year, over 2 hours anyway. I benefited from a tail wind, which was nice and took in some lakes on the ride back.