A short skate along the boardwalk mainly working on balance as I had no poles as my back is still hurting

Very hard climb due to bad back and a top gear that didn't engage properly. The road to the power station has been resurfaced for some reason, very smooth now.

Testing some Decathlon slow wheels, boy are they sloooowwww. Probably quite good for training and exercises as they don't tend to run away but you need a lot of effort to get them moving.

It has been 7 years since I rode up this side of Mount Mottarone. This time I was just doing a return trip from Orta.

Back to see if I could get a bit further up the road. In the end I made it to the top section although didn't have time to ride over to the village, next time. There is a segment of 17% over 0.5km.

This is effectively a rest day. A little ride up to Coiromonte via the hair pins. Riding out of Pettenasco is hard - a series of steep ramps at 15% but by the Coiromonte climb I was warmed up a bit.

The idea was to take the road above Luzzogno towards Alpe Busca as far as it is surfaced. But I was unsure of the route above Luzzogno so took the Inuggio road instead.

Relaxing the legs after the drive over from France. Managed not to miss the short cut turn back to Orta this time.

The Col du Rousset is just of the Freydieres climb but the lack of surface on the north side means it is rarely visited by bike. Just two other riders on Strava, both on MTBs.

A "before work" but more importantly a "before it gets too hot" tour, Almost exactly the same date as last year and same time and power, more or less.