I did a local organized ride, the Collin Classic. That was my first organized ride two years ago. At that time I was still on my mountain bike (with smooth tires) and did 37 miles with an average of 10mph. I thought I was going to die, and my riding partner had to badger me the whole last might to keep me going.

This year I set out to do the longest route, they said 55 miles. I'm not on my new Trek 2.1, so was hoping I'd be able to it! It was about 80 when we started at 8AM, and finally the winds seemed to have died down. The ride is in North Central Texas with rolling hills and some not so great road surface (chip seal is icky!). About 20 miles into the ride we came across a storm, pretty heavy rain and darn it all that wind was back. Grump!

It took me longer than I would have liked, but I finished the ride, which turned out to be only 53.7 miles, and averaged around 13mph. I finished what I set out to do, didn't fall and didn't cry. A successful day for me

Barbara