Since I'm the one who unfortunately opened Pandora's box here.... I never claimed that we got back to the parking lot after the 40-mile ride, looked down at our collective cycle computers, then clapped each other on the back and exclaimed, "Good ride, guys. 33.3 -- not a bad effort, eh?" I said that 32-33mph was common territory and implied that we'd ride at that pace for an extended period of time. Re-read my previous posts. Never said squat about an average. (Also can't imagine that there are a lot of training rides that "warm up" in the 30s -- we typically spend 4 or 5 miles spinning at 18-22 before the hammer goes down.) Whether you believe me -- that's up to you.

I also never said it was "no sweat." There aren't a lot of guys who can sit in in the low-30s, let alone pull that pace. Or cover a break if one opens up at that pace. Our ride of 30 people will get cut down to 15 or a dozen pretty quickly when that happens. The local "A" club ride (no-drop) of a similar size got cut to 4 people last night when we hit the low-30s two miles before a town-sign sprint. There aren't a lot of guys and gals riding in the low-30s who aren't busting their cajones to do it. Cajone-busting is the whole point!

Finally, as anyone who has done any cycling at all ought to know, to finish a ride with a certain "average" speed requires maintaining speeds far in excess of that average for long periods of time. Last night's local "A" ride of 44 miles (attended by racers and serious recreational riders) hit 30mph on the flats several times, was frequently cruising along in the high-20s, and yet we only finished with an "average" on the computer of 20.7mph. Why? Warm up. Stop signs. Traffic lights. Turns. Hills. Hanging back to collect some who had been dropped. Cool down. This principle is at work in any group ride, no matter how speedy or slow the riders.