I'm the big/old guy third in our pace line.
Did my first Century on the Withlacoochee Trail on Saturday, and was fortunate enough to get with a great group of riders. After the first 7-8 miles alone (and in the dark), at first light, two riders passed me at about 20 mph. I fell in behind them, and less than a mile up the trail we headed out onto the country roads for an 8 mile loop with some Florida "hills." I asked them if I could join them, and they said "the more the merrier." I offered to share in the pulling, but they said that Michael was a super strong rider and liked pulling. We stayed together for 70+ miles with Michael pulling nearly the entire time. We picked up three other folks (two on Cervello tri bikes) who had left before us. Michael pulled at a steady 20-22 mph for nearly 70 miles, only slowing for road crossings and two brief SAG stops. When one of the group had some asthma problems with about 20 miles to go, Michael stayed with him and sent the rest of us on to finish. We rode individually the last 20 miles, but I was fresh enough to keep nearly an 18 mph pace. The final result was (per Map My Ride) 102 miles at an average speed of 18.7 mph for a duration of 5:27:47. A big thanks to Michael and his friend Tom for letting me ride along on their century, I had a blast...and the weather was in the 70's most of the morning, only going into the 80's late in the ride! This was the perfect first Century ride, particularly for someone my age (63) who just came back to cycling last May. It doesn't get much better than this!