  The Hitchin component of the character variety of representations of a
surface group $\pi_1(S)$ into $\mathrm{PSL}_d(\mathbb R)$ for some $d\geq 3$
can be equipped with a pressure metric whose restriction to the Fuchsian locus
equals the Weil-Petersson metric up to a constant factor. We show that if the
genus of $S$ is at least $3$, then the Fuchsian locus contains quasi-convex
subsets of infinite diameter for the Weil--Petersson metric whose diameter for
the path metric of the pressure metric is finite. This is established through
showing that biinfinite paths of bending deformations have controlled bounded
length. To this end we give a geometric interpretation of Fock--Goncharov
positivity and show that bending deformations of Fuchsian representations
stabilize a uniform Finsler quasi-convex disk in the symmetric space
$\mathrm{PSL}_d(\mathbb R)/\mathrm{PSO}(d)$.
