61 miles here. I rode to the bike club, was running a tad late. I arrived as the A Group was leaving, and went to join the other group. (Note the b group rides at 20-23mph, so I'm not sure how much of a B group they are, though they have long warmups with chatting)

However, I was a little confused to find the bikes still in everyone's trucks! With some confused sleuthing, I discovered they were driving up to a point about 1-1.5hrs north of us, and riding to Prescott!

They said they had room for my bike if I wanted to come. I said yes!

Once on location, we took some photos and headed out slowly into our first climb, which i suspect was only about a 3-4% grade. A couple more miles and the grade increased to ~6%. By the time we hit the downs, I'd let the 3 guys i was trailing go, and thus had the decents to my own speeds. I stopped only once to allow a car to pass so i could take the lane back. I'm still very leery of fast decents, and turns and falling, so I want ALL the lane at those speeds! not to mention, I LOVE my Take-A-Look mirror! it allowed me to see when i needed to worry about cars, and when not to.

We stopped at a Waffle place in prescott and headed out another road, with a 8% climb for a good 5 miles. I started to overheat, so i let the tire i was chasing move on. I don't need to draft on hills, but I use the tires as encouragement to keep my pace up. I don't find my speed changes.

We hit the top of the hill and the guy who was hanging on my wheel takes the lead. i let him fly down as I try not to panic on the decent. This is one of those decents that if you tuck in and close, 40-45mph easy. And there was some vicious crosswinds. I caged my speeds in at 35, and tried to talk myself into not letting fear turn me into road kill.

I slowed down and moved over for an annoying semitruck which honked at me as we neared the construction zone. they were repaving, and thus only allowed cars to pass in one direction and blocked the rest of us until it was our turn.

We collect most of the club before we're off again. Mr Beeps makes a nuisance of himself (and we're going only about 25-30 in a construction zone!) We're trying to be nice and stick on the shoulder, which is only about 3 ft wide. Mr Beeps passes me and his trailor almost takes me off the road. Mr. Beeps has a friend behind him. Jessica is mad! I signal and take the lane. Mr Beeps has 2 cyclists pacing him down and I'm a little further back, but I refuse to let this second truck knock me off the road. i'm flying down the hill (yes on fresh tarstuff, flying everywhere, sticking to the tires, going in my shoes, yuck!) and I tuck in low and tight and pedal my little heart out. and it almost goes out when we have a mini-hill which I maintain a high speed on. When we're stopping to let Mr. beeps move over to the other side of the road (he's carrying asphalt) I realize what i did. i went fast. i did it on purpose. on conditions that weren't so great. Why wasn't I freaked out? because I was mad.. but it turned out ok. i'm glad it happened. yes, I'm glad a truck almost ran me off the road. because I've made a huge step in my journey. I'm reclaiming my speed down hills! I noticed that when we encountered any more significant decents, they didn't phaze me. insert happy jessica here!

We stopped at a convenience shop in Skull Valley and I think just about everyone bought icecream. then we're off. The scent of stables fills the nostrils of 6 of the guys and 1 other gal. we race off, taking advantage of the slight decline and no headwind. I'm barely holding on, though. Every time I looked down it was 24-25, and 20 on the minor hills that popped up. I get dropped at one hill, get my breath back and attempt to catch up. i give up 30seconds later. then I notice the last guy looking back, then the last 2 guys drop off and slow down. I still have to struggle to catch up, but I can catch up! I do so, and slow down to fall in behind him, announce the car which doesn't quite know what to do with us, and he pulls me to the other guy, announces when we catch up and the 2 pull us off to the pack. We catch up with them as we arrive at the vehicles! but I genuinely appreciated what they did and made sure to thank them.

i had such a blast for my second ride with the club!