We have a weekly ride out of the local senior center every Tuesday called "Ride for Coffee" where as many as 12 or more of us ride out on a nearby rail-trail and other routes for a 20-30 mile outing. We normally go through October and start up again in late April, but the weather has been really uncooperative and after not riding past the end of last September, yesterday was the first day that we could start things up again. It was a beautiful day, so I was surprised that only 6 of us showed up, and we took off at a much faster pace than what we usually do on the first few rides.
I had thought that, with my bike on a trainer over the winter, I was in pretty good shape for the start of the season, but the 23-mile round trip was pretty darn tough. I usually am one of the front-runners, but after setting the pace for the first few miles, I dropped off a bit. It was especially hard after taking a long break at our traditional turnaround point for the obligatory coffee and donut (still only $1.10). The official leader is 80, but can still outride most of us, and he often shows off a bit too much. Unfortunately I think this has discouraged some newcomers, since we do tend to look like a hard-core bunch of riders (hard-core for our age, that is!). When more people start coming, we'll probably split into de facto "A" and "B" groups, which ends up working well.
Anyway, it felt really good to finally get out for a weekly ride with guys that I hadn't seen since last September!