The Grim Reaper lives in or about Hardwick MA

The ride posting went something like this:

This will be a steady, but fast pace. If you're not sure you can hang, but want to give it a shot then just keep some notes on the route. It is very hilly, but no steep climbs.
With a pain scale of:

This is a local ride for me so I take crib notes on the route, and stick them in the zip lock with my phone and $20 (not that there will be any reception, or stores) and ride to the meeting place. My heart drops when I see Jim, Steve, Matt, and Rob pull in. Justin arrives and I figure cool, he's a bit stronger than I but hopefully I can hang. I had calculated that the ride would average 18.6 based on a 3 hour trip (done by 11:00 AM) it would be a push but I wanted to test my ability. It was then shared that the flattest part of the ride was the meeting place parking lot, which proved to be so true...

The group leaves the lot at a good 19 MPH pace up 202 to the first hill I'm feeling ok; only problem is that the pace doesn't drop up the hills!! It actually increases...There is a lot of up, and my HR spiked to 184 twice in the first 20 minutes; I can't hang with these guys. I get dropped, Justin is dropped a couple minutes later. I catch up to him and we start to work together which was very cool. At the first turn the sign is missing so the guys waited for us, we're 5 minutes behind them.

All of us start out again, Justin and I get dropped on the first appreciable hill; Justin is just far enough ahead where I cannot regroup. I can see him up ahead 1/2 to 3/4 of a mile all the way into Ware so for the most part I am solo for the second 1/2 of the route. Lots of vertical feet, gorgeous day, and hardly any traffic. I'm diggin' it, and working hard. Kept the HR ceiling @ 165 on the climbs and let it rip on the downs and flats. I finished the ride in 3:16 and then headed on home.

Distance: 60 miles 3675 vertical feet Pace: 17.7 HR average: 157

(this includes to and from the house) 210 miles this week!!