Remember how I was complaining that I had no one to ride with and no routes?
I remembered that my former university has a cycling club. I sent out a group e-mail, and there are some people still around who are willing to ride! Yay!

There are, however, a few things that make me nervous.
1) The route is longer (38 miles) than I've done, and with more climbing than I'm used to...and all the climbing is at the end. I know the only way to get better at it is to do it, but I think that's a lot at one go for someone who primarily rides on flat ground with only the occasional hill.
2) They're all guys who are a fair bit faster than me. I can do 15-16 mph on the flats, but I'm pretty slow (10-13mph) on hills. The guy who's organizing this one is planning on 17-18, though he says a friend might be joining him who rides at my pace.
3)The organizer was nice enough to send me the route in advance, but it's quite unfamiliar territory.
4)I don't know any of them. Easily resolvable, but I'd feel better if I had one person I knew with me, especially because of the pace and the fact that I'm not overly familiar with the area.
5) I'm not terribly experienced with group rides, and it does sound like, since this guy's talking about pacelines, that this particular sebset likes riding at a higher level than I'm presently comfortable with.

So...I've been reading the "What should I expect on group rides" threads. I feel a little better, especially if I hang back a bit. I can: Bite the bullet and try riding with these guys and hope I can make my way home by myself (or hope I'm pleasantly surprised); try the route by myself and take my time; or hold out for what the other group says. If that's not an option, tackle all the smaller hills in my area as much as I can. There's one that's reasonable for interval training, provided I don't hit the fun spots on way down!

Thoughts? Suggestions? Ideas?
Thanks!