Longest Day 2021 - French Pass

With a few years of doing *other* stuff (renovating a house, getting married, having a baby boy, getting another on the way, etc) I've been pretty low key on the cycling front - it's been a good chance to chill out a bit, physically, but even that comes with penalties like being fat and unfit. So, what better way to counter my new found girth than to get back to the bike? Thankfully, I have two days a week where I can be in my office in the Wellington CBD, which gives me 4 x 25km rides each week without even thinking. Add a couple of short lunchtime loops or hill sessions to that, and the odd longer weekend ride, and it starts adding up to a pretty healthy amount of cycling. With the sense of fitness returning, I thought it would be a shame not to take advantage of it over the summer of 2021/22, and penciled in two rides - the Longest Day, and a revisit of the 2012 Kiwi Brevet course. Initially, I'd been keen to try a loop out of Blenheim for the Longest Day ride - out over...