History has to start somewhere.

Long climb up the east side of Mottarone via the toll road with a little loop around the top.

A return to the Rossombolmo climb. This time with a 34x32 gearing and a lighter bike. I climbed all the way up to the ex-sheep farm at the summit.

This fearsome climb starts from the village of Ornavasso just north of Gravellone-Toce.

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.