35-ish miles to Stone Mountain

Where did I ride (partial map):  here

Ride Stats:

Not accurate - the stats on the map above are incorrect because of my phone dying.

Megan's Stats

Maximum speed: 30.6 mph
Average speed: 13.0 mph
Distance: 32.63 mi

Time: 2.29.57

Mine were something like that - Megan rode with me most of the time.

The Ride:

Wowza - this was a no drop ride, and that's really the only reason I was able to complete it.  I was really excited about this ride.  I wanted the extra distance and was looking for a challenge.  Oh yes, I found a challenge.  When we started the ride, there was a group that took off very quickly.  It was apparent in the first 10 minutes or so that this was not going to be pretty - they were very far ahead, I was no where near the speed of the first group, and was only riding with Megan because she was hanging back with me.  At that point I realized this ride was not going to be fun or productive if I was focused on trying to keep up.  I started thinking that maybe I should turn around and let them ride their normal pace.  Megan offered to stay back so we were going to do our own ride - two of the other riders stayed back too.  From that point on, the pace we rode was terrific.  It was tough, I was still near the rear but I was okay with that. 

My legs were alternating from burning to feeling phenomenal to feeling tired.  It was a great ride.  Prepping for the longer distance I drank almost both my water bottles on the way to the location and then refilled them with some Gatorade I had picked up on the way downtown.  I finished those on the ride and then drank the rest of the Gatorade bottle when I got back to the car.  I'm so glad I was well hydrated.  After the ride, my legs were sore and I was tired, but considering the distance and the ride, I felt fantastic.   After  nap, I was feeling even better.

My stats are messed up and my map is incomplete because I had to use the navigation on my phone to get to the starting point of the ride, my car's GPS could not find the address.  My battery was low - I'm surprised it tracked the amount of map that it did.

Hopefully next Sunday I'll ride again with them and I just look forward to improving.  I don't need to be the fastest, but I'd like to keep up with a group and not be the last one :-)