Thanks for the advice gang! I was already leaning toward one of the shorter distances. I am also trying to look out for BF who is in no way ready for a century. His longest ride was 30 we did in May and 35 he did 2 weeks ago.

My acupuncture/ massage guy thinks my back pain is linked to tight glutes and he has me doing twice daily stretching. However, I have had tight hamstrings all my life.

Is there anything specific that can be done to the bike for that? I know that raising my saddle a tad had a huge impact on my knee.