I hardly ever start this thread.
Today I went on a club ride for the first time in awhile. It was in Plymouth, MA, which is about 60 miles from here, so I car pooled with someone. I hadn't been to Plymouth since I was a little kid, so I was interested to see what the landscape was like.
It was hilly. Much more than I expected. Not any really long or steep climbs (well, maybe one steep one), but I always picture towns by the shore to be flat. Most of the ride was in a planned development with lots of rollers and a state park with even more of those. The last part was in an older area, with beautiful colonial homes. None of it was in ocean view, but it was still pretty.
This group is mostly older people, with a few people who work flexible schedules, so they can ride during the week. It's supposed to be social riding, with an average of 13-14, although they usually cruise faster on the flats. The past few times I've been on their rides, they've split off a faster group, which is right around my speed. But today, there were some crazy men out in front that I could not keep up with. They must have been going around 22 on the flats. I was close, but I felt like I was in the Tour, like in the chase group! I could see them, but for awhile, I couldn't catch them. A lot of these riders can't climb that well, so I always made up time on the hills. This is a group that it's best to try to stay up front, because the riding habits of a lot of them are squirrelly, to say the least. But they are a pretty impressive group, given the ages of some of them.
37 miles, around a 15 average.