Did a quick, flattish ride in the afternoon. Yes, signs of fall are in the air. But, the forecast is saying it will be 90 and humid by Friday, of course, the day I am leading a ride. We did 16.6 miles up Monument St, around Skelton to Rt. 225 into Bedford and back up Rt. 62 to Concord Center, and then home. There seemed to be millions of riders out yesterday. We passed several, instead of them passing me, so that was a little positive reinforcement. When we turned the corner onto Barret's Mill Rd. there was a couple going kind of slowly, talking to each other. My husband went out in front of them, but something told me to stay on the back. I got in behind the woman, and all of a sudden I was following her at 24 mph. Then I noticed the guy was wearing NEBC shorts (SheFly's club). I knew these people were serious, but they let my husband lead them out until we turned onto Strawberry Hill Rd. We both knew what would happen next. On the smallish hill that leads up to my street these 2 took off and we couldn't even see them when we turned onto our street. I checked my computer then and my average was 16.7 Of course riding up my street and driveway kills that, so when i got home, it was 16.1.
Twice in a week I had an average over 16, including the climb up to my house.