Yesterday I joined a 22 mile group ride, same as every Wednesday.
Lately I've been working on drafting and also just pushing myself harder so I can hopefully keep up with the faster guys. It worked last week--I was able to come in with the best of them, and our average speed was 21.9 MPH. This is good performance for me, even considering that I was in a group and riding very flat terrain.
Last night didn't work out the same. The crowd that showed up was smaller than usual, and the ones who came were all the strongest riders. They must have been feeling froggy, because they really sent it. 28 MPH. I was able to hang with them for about 30 seconds, and then I might as well have been trying to keep up with a bullet train. It wasn't happening.
Still a fun ride, but I straggled in with one other guy who got dropped the same time as me.