I had a mostly good ride today. We had 16 riders so we split into two groups, evenly matched. I felt good. At the halfway point, we stopped for some farm fresh ice cream and the guys decided we should split into a FASTER and slower group. Like a dumbass, I decided to go with the faster group. It got quite hot and humid, and a couple of the hammerheads were pushing the pace just a smidge harder than I wanted, so of course after about 10 miles of suffering I felt like crap and told them to go ahead, and I would drop back to the second group. I dropped my effort a modest 10-15% and within 5 minutes felt GREAT. We had a decent lead on the slower group, so I ended up riding solo for about 10 miles until they caught me. I finished the ride at a civilized pace and it was fine.

Life lesson: don't go with the fast guys.