Our bright green idea. Relaxing at the Wakefield Mill was easy. Cycling there was not. by Chris Cobb, Ottawa Citizen

Call it a "whose bright idea was this?" moment.

Make that plural, as in moments.

Those who have experienced the thigh-burning, lung-bursting agony of propelling a bicycle towards Pink Lake from the south end of the Gatineau Parkway will understand.

There are critical points on this most brutal of hills where you run out of momentum and enter a state where you are just one pedal stroke away from stalling - and falling into an exhausted heap.

If the bike stalls, you will have no time to unclip. You can't stop even if you want to because, in the time it takes to twist your foot out of the pedal clip, you'll be on the ground, still welded to the bike.

On the roads and bicycle paths from Ottawa to Wakefield there are many such moments, punctuated by occasional and admittedly exhilarating descents.

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