The ride leader who is resonsible for an awful lot of my enjoyment and strength and endurance says "There will always be someone older AND faster than you."

That "what's average" thing works both ways, too. If you're going on a ride and they say, "oh, we only average about 14," they're sort of referring to the average at the end... or what they were averaging in March... so most of the time out on the road, they're going 17 or 18 - but since they already dropped you, they don't notice.