Okay so I took your advice and increased my ride today! I got home from work; ate dinner...relaxed for about 30-40 minutes and went out...I ended up doing 7.05 miles (new high) with an average of 15.5 MPH!

I know, I know....not much compared to you guys however; it was a new high for me by over 2 miles in one ride while maintaining my usual average. I changed gears to make it easier to pedal/maintain and did NOT stretch beforehand.