Fat Tires are My Friends

Those big tires made all the difference yesterday - I would have been a snivelling mess without them - they gave me enough confidence to forge ahead through gravel, corrugation and streams.  The ascent was fun, but on the last steep bit, I was going along so slowly (5 km/HR) and starting to wobble beacause of how slowly I was moving so I decided to walk and push my bike.  Which felt pretty good, actually!  Gorgeous views at the top of the pass, but then the REALLY scary part began - descending, down very steep terrain, with the same gravel and corrugation.  Yeesh, I think my brakes were red hot and my hands and forearms were aching from the death grip I had on my handlebars and the constant braking.  Once we were back down to river level, we somehow thought we were just about home free, but there was another 30 km! of gravel and corrugation; it got a bit tedious.  I was so happy to see the 8 km to Hanmer Springs sign, then we went around the corner and it was uphill.  I told myself it couldn't ALL be uphill, I was right, then another crazy steep descent, still on gravel, into the town.  The motel looked pretty good when we rolled into the parking lot, filthy with dust, sweaty and tired.  Today is a rest day, and there's hot pools here but first we are going to walk up Conical Hill, which must be an old volcano, and eat, of course, before we soak in the hot water and fall into bed.  What a life!