Originally Posted by soma5

But that's just the point. There are so many levels of "mediocre." We can speak of mediocre pro tour riders, those domestiques who toil to help the stars of the team do well. Compared to local racers, they are monster riders. A mediocre local racer is a monster compared to most of your recreational riders. A mediocre recreational rider is still a monster in the general population. 5 hours and 27 minutes might be a good time for a recreational rider, but it would be mighty disappointing for a mediocre local racer. I guess my point is that you really need to define what you mean. If you ask, "How can I get to the point of doing a century in less than 6 hours," we might be able to point you toward specific training regimens that appear periodically in places like Bicycling Magazine. My thinking is that if you can find specific goals, such as being able to ride at 18 miles per hour for an hour, or being able to do a sub-6-hour century, then you can find ways to work toward those goals and be justifiably proud of your accomplishments. You can toot your horn here and read the "oohs" and "ahhs" of your 50+ peers. Or maybe your goal is more to make good friends riding and just have a great time. That's just as good a goal as the others. You can measure your success by your enjoyment of the activity and your improved health and vitality.

It sounds like you are enjoying your cycling and riding pretty darn well as it is.

-soma5