Newbie perspective here (< year of road riding).

I thought I was doing ok. I have a local loop, 16 miles, rolling terrain with a couple of short but steep (for me) hills. If I'm feeling good, I can finish this under an hour, +/- 10 minutes. I thought to myself, woah I'm a B rider. Sweet.

I joined one of the C/B group rides. It was for a much longer ride (39 miles), varied terrain and windy condition. I thought I can hang with the B riders and at the very least carry the C rider. I was so wrong. I started easy chatting with the B riders out front and finished almost breathless at the back of the pack with the C riders. Good wake up call. I averaged 13.9 during the ride.

Basically, the shorter and the easier the ride, the faster I get. I usually try not to exceed/stop at 88 mph. I don't want to be indiscriminately transferred in another time.