Overall, the ride was pretty great! I spent the first 5 miles booking it as fast as I could, killing myself to keep within sights of the group, when we finally lost them for good at a light. BUT the two ride leaders (both women, which was nice!) took turns hanging back with us for the first half, and one of them began to teach me drafting, which I understood in concept but had never actually done before. For the second half, a regular and a ride leader hung back with us and we did a little 4-person paceline, which was a great introduction to it -- not at all scary, and a lot of fun. Around the 19 mile mark they made sure we knew the rest of the way back and took off, so I checked my average speed because I knew it was about to decrease dramatically -- it was 16.7! I've never averaged more than 15.7 (that was a flat 13 mile ride), and it's usually more in the 13 mph range. Of course the last couple of miles back alone the adrenaline died off, my legs cramped up and my average speed dropped to 15.7, but I'm still pretty freaking proud of myself.

Thanks for encouraging me to get out there guys! Not sure I would've done it otherwise (like honestly, right before we got there I was so scared I was ready to bail but I didn't want to come back here and have to admit that's what happened!). I'm glad I went. Later I'll write a more detailed recap on my blog and post a link, in case anyone is interested.