It's hard to draft behind skinny people

34 miles with the Herman Miller Tuesday Afternoon group. Average speed: 20.2 mph.

That's a good 2 miles per hour faster than I've ever averaged for any significant distance. That may have something to do with having been in a line cruising at 22-25 mph while we were going upwind, and adding a few more to that speed once we turned back downwind. Any hills we encountered did me in after the first 15 miles; I managed to claw back to the group on the downhills and flats for the next 8 miles or so, and that was it, until one of the guys dropped back and pulled me and the other big guy (who held his own on the hills far better than I did) back to the pack. Once they had a straight shot back to where we started, though, that was it, we two clydesdales were staring at five skinny butts receding in the distance. We paced each other back at what I would normally consider a very fast pace, but today going 18-23 felt like a crawl.

The pace obviously got to be too much for me, particularly on any significant hills, but ultimately I was quite pleased with myself. I felt like I was able to recover after gutting up hills, and after a bit of coasting down the back of the hill, I'd be able to maintain a good pace by myself, and as long as the group didn't hammer, I could pull back. Of course, at one point, I looked up, and they were all out of the saddle sprinting. "Not us, nuh-uh, we ain't doin' that" said the legs to the brain, and the brain replied "I wasn't going to ask you to, now shut up and pedal!"

I'll do a recovery ride Wednesday, then a couple of days off, then miles this weekend. Should be a big week.