32 mile group ride today

I took a chance and tried the Saturday morning group ride offered by Loose Spokes Bike Shop of Grand Haven (http://www.loosespokes.com/). They offer this ride every Saturday morning beginning at 8:30 am. The riders end up in one of three groups, A, B or C. Groups A & B are for the faster cyclists (20-24 mph ave.) I decided to try Group C (16-20 mph). There were about 15 riders in A & B and 4 of us in Group C. Jack, the owner of Loose Spokes rode in the A/B group and told us that they were going to do 40 miles instead of the advertised 30 miles, and that the C group was going to do 30 miles instead of 20. However, the riders were instructed to keep the pace slightly slower since the racing season was oficially over. (Like that would slow them down!)

Our group took off promptly at 8:30 am, heading east on Comstock and Mercury towards 104th St. Bill and Tom (our group leader) took turns pulling. I tried for a mile or so, but pulling at 19 mph was a bit much for me since I hadn't put in the miles in August necessary to do this. Both Bill and Tom were about the same age as I am. We also had (Kevin), who was in his 20's s far as I could tell. We had a great time, with a total of 32 miles. I averaged 18 mph over 1 hour 47 minutes. My cyclecomputer also read 33 mph as the top speed, but I'm not sure where this was as we didn't have any hills. Hmmm.

We arrived back at Loose Spokes around 10:15 am and enjoyed free coffee and breakfast bars & granola. Jack told us about the new Fuji and Bianchi bikes, and we enjoyed talking with the other riders! A most enjoyable ride! However, I defintely need to put in more miles during the week.