There's no reason you can't take the accelerated class to get certified and then go back and take the intro class later-- there's a lot of times I think people could benefit from that.

I was just interested in who he is to know if he's one of the fast old guys who still beat on the kids...

I agree with you about Montrose-- that's part of why I stopped doing it. There's no reason it couldn't be more civilized about stoplights and signs with a group that big. The old "tour of sierra madre" ride was always pretty brutal (in part because it was really small) and stopped at all the lights and stop signs and even had regroups.