Just rode for the first time with John and Jim from work. Damn they're fast! I could barely catch my breath the whole way around Mercer.
It was funny, some big huge 240 pound 6' 4" dude with oak tree trunks for legs pushing some monstrous gear passed us, and Jim jumped out and chased him down and passed him. When Jim rode by, that guy did a double take and started riding like a madman, and then John jumped out to catch him, and they were all furiously pushing the gears up this hill, and I was 20 meters back about to have a heart attack.
The good thing is, I got my spring out of the way for the week. Everytime I ride Mercer at 6am, some riders fly by me. You want a fast ride, the Mercer morning circuit is it. No casual riders get up at that god awful hour to suffer on a bike. There's not a whole lot of conversation, either, especially since you don't have any air in your lungs to spare. All you hear in the shadows of the morning dusk is the click-click-click of the shifting gears and the muted mechanical clatter of chain on cassette.
My goal is to get my speed up so that I can chase all those huge dudes down in the morning.