Pwhhwwt

My good idea on Sunday was to incorporate (the infamous) French Pass into my 90km ride, on the basis that I have to do it as part of the Hamilton Charity Chopper ride 100km on labour weekend so wanted to have a go at it first. My second good idea was to plan the route so that I'd already done Tahuroa and Scotsman's Valley before getting anywhere near French Pass. Are you beginning to hear the sound of a good idea unravelling..... So apart from the fact that I was already tired by the time I got to FP it was also the most evil thing ever encountered. By the time we got to the last stretch of the climb I was at the back of the group (and my 2 cycling buddies were barely speaking to me due to me being in charge of the route!) and all I could hear from the front as I creaked up one more bit of hill was "I'm round the corner, there's more hill". Eventually with the end in sight I piked, managing to unclip both feet (see I do learn some lessons) I ground to a halt and got off intending to walk up the last bit. Only it was just too much, I was too tired, and the grass verge looked so much more inviting so I sat down. Ok I might actually have lain down, just to check I wasn't actually having a heart attack and that neither of my lungs was poking out of my chest or exploding or anything. Eventually I thought I'd better get up in case someone wondered where I was and I dragged myself to the top, where one of my group was indeed waiting (the other is a total slow-mo going downhill so had gone on assuming we'd pass him as usual - ha!) I decided to have another sit down. I wish I could say the ride got better after that, unfortunately whoever designed the Waikato does seem awfully fond of hills. The best thing about finishing the ride was that it was done, the worst thing was thinking about having to do FP again in 2 weeks time. Turns out the route goes the other way through, apparently that is easier. Hmph.