As as addendum to my previous posts, I wanted to report that my last two rides were, in a word, AWESOME. Notwithstanding last week's pity party, I'm feeling a lot more confident in how much stronger I've gotten over the last few months. My friends and I were rockin' it out last Sunday and again this past Tuesday. I'm using gears I only dreamt of last year. I'm also using words like sprint, hammer and surge for the first time. Fun, fun.

Lisa, I would add that I don't really end up riding with 200 people. Navigating through/around/behind them is more like it. It's crazy at the start of our club rides, but then everyone kind of spreads out. We are a sight at the beginning of a ride though. No matter how big the turnout, I usually end up riding with pretty small groups of people, mostly friends. We sometimes form a single or double paceline, but it's all very loose and low key. I am, however, hoping to do some training rides this year that will likely involve a more unnerving form of group riding. I'd like to work on the skills needed for that, but I'm not sure how much I'm going to like it. We'll see.