There seems to be at least one common theme to certain posts here. Skiffrun's latest appears to be the latest in that riding with someone else really makes the journey more enjoyable.
Last year, I popped up on the AZ rando list and kind of introduced myself. It's a great group of people but there weren't a lot of responses to my post. One guy sent me an email and we met on my first ever brevet - an attempt that failed.
Later, I dug out his email and we agreed to meet and ride together. He has a recumbent but he's equally comfortable on his DF. David completed something like 20 centuries last year but I think that 100 miles was his most miles in any one event. He's strong.
We managed to ride together a few times - enough to recognize that our personalities were a good match. Along the way, I upgraded to a new bike. When I was on the Giro, he could drip me like a bad habit but was always good as waiting for me at major turns. On the new bike, I don't think he can drop me - I think I have way more miles than him this year so it's not so much the bike but the bike motivating me to ride harder/further/faster.
We did a century in Jan followed by a 300 in early Feb. That solidified our partnership and as David noted, he likes to think of these brevets as just a long ride with a good friend.
The big goal is the 2015 PBP. I'll be just a few years south of 60 and cycling will help me maintain my health which, for the most part, is excellent. David is on-board with that and we plan to take our wives with us & make it a "big" trip.
Working back from 2015, this year's goal is to complete the SR series. Between now and 2015, back to the OP's point, I'll likely limit local brevets to 300-km or less. We have a few fast local brevet riders and I'd like to lower my times to something near theirs.
I'll look to out-of-state events to explore new territories on the longer brevets. I'd also like to give back to the local group and volunteer my support for their longer brevets. I hope this will help keep me fresh and focused.
I wish I could take this energy and passion for cycling and translate it to career success but I've had to accept that, like my father, I work to live rather than live to work. That's not such a bad thing eh?