Thank you for the congrats- I really was proud of myself too.

For comparison, my previous longest ride was 111 miles on El Tour de Tucson in November. It took me just over 8 hours, but the "race" atmosphere added a pressure I didn't feel on the brevet. It was okay to just hang out and take a break at the end of the first leg and at the lunch stop. I wonder if that was part of the reason I did not feel as physically stressed afterward?

We did our best to implement a recovery ride today- took it fairly slow and easy up to Saguaro NP, and stayed on the flattish "picnic loop" road, not the main park loop with a steep climb. Overall, my speed was just 12.5 mph, and I think it fulfilled the purpose of "recovery" although I didn't really feel all that sore today.

Goldfinch- for what's worth, I got back into cycling less than 3 years ago and I could not have imagined tackling a ride over 15 miles. It took me 6 months to be able to ride more than 50 miles, and over a year before I broke 70. If it's something you want to do, and you have no physical obstacles to prevent it, I'm sure you can build up to it.