Just got back from a group ride that was so horribly hot and humid, it was making me feel weird. I get a certain feeling when it's really hot and I had it almost the whole ride. My mistake was volunteering to be a human arrow, at about mile 2. When my turn was done, I never made it back to the front. I did end up riding with a small group, but I also was alone a lot of the time. There was one point, where we were within 1/4 of a mile of my house and I almost went home. But, I knew I would have to ride the 10+ miles back to the start for my car, so I dug in. We went up a very steep hill just about then, and I was really getting overheated when we turned on a flattish road and I was able to tuck in behind a guy and draft him up to the point where we were getting close to the rest stop in Concord center. By then, a lot of others were fading. When we stopped, I finished my bottle of Scratch, ate a Shot Block, and dumped some cold water down my jersey. It was 7-8 miles back to Great Brook Farm, with one climb right at the outset. I actually dropped a few here, but I was done!
As we turned on to the road the park is on, I realized the front group was right in front of me, so I finished with them. I checked my average when we got back, and sure enough, it was faster than this group usually does. Not faster than I ride, when I am with DH, but I felt pressure to move it. A group had also done a mountain bike ride at the park, and they were done when we got back. I had brought my lunch to eat there, as did a few others. On my drive home, the temperature on my car said it was 90 degrees for most of the way home, dropping to 88. It's clouding up now, thankfully, fall will resume tomorrow night.
32 miles. I am done with summer!