Wednesday morning club ride.
I had cleaned my bike a couple of days before, wheels off; get into every bit of the frame, chain clean and lube. Leave the bike in my van for the Tuesday TT (cancelled due to fog) so Wednesday I drove to Lowdham and refitted the mudguards there.
Out of some madness I decided to go with the medium group so seven of us set off at around 17, 18 mph head wind. Managing to keep up OK but noticed my chain was rubbing as if slightly out of adjustment and the front mudguard was also slightly rubbing the tyre but nothing to prevent me carrying on, just annoying. We head out through Bleasby, and as I know know in general direction of Newark. I am finding the pace a bit heavy going but still managing to keep the pace up. Somewhere after I think Staythorpe we turned right onto a different road, I kept well to the left not being as confident on the corners as the others and to use my own space as the others (some cutting right of the central bollard) cruised round the corner without hardly dropping the pace and accelerating away.
This put me more than a few bike lengths behind the group trying to accelerate against a head wind to rejoin the group. But as I tried to accelerate the gap just got bigger with the group accelerating away from me and in what only seemed a few seconds the group disappeared from view. So I ploughed on the best I could but missed a beleave a crucial turn off to Kelham I found myself on the the main road going into Newark, just a stream of cars, lorries passing me; I just knew this was wrong so turned back riding along the footpath as this seemed much safer, back to the Kelham turning. Rode to South Muskham as not knowing the roads and had no better idea of where to go; getting off my bike about six times adjusting gears (electronic), mudguards as really annoying me now. Then decide to head back sort of the same way as we came stopping off at (I think Fiskerton) at a shop for a bag of crisps and a flap jack (no clue to where any cafes where) as I was now feeling very hungry. Back through Bleasby, Thurgarton etc to Lowdham. 32.15 miles done. So it is back to the slower group next time!
Now it is back home , clean the bike and adjust the gears.
Unusual for medium group to drop anyone but I guess I suppose it depends on who is leading?
Stick with it. It's character building. Having said that, I stuck with the steady group for over a year before I ventured out with the medium. Stamina doesn't come from faster rides, power does. You need to build a good base first with plenty of steady miles, increasing week on week as you see fit and time permitting of course. Then it's worth going out on faster rides to up your strength and pace. Once you have the stamina, you then start working on power delivery and increasing your stamina whilst delivering power.
There's many trains of thought on this so I may get contradicted by someone else. Each to their own.
All I can be sure of is it did me no harm spending more time on the slower rides than faster rides because I did shave 15 seconds off my 25 mile TT time last year, 30 years after recording the previous PB as an 18 year old and being off the bike for 28 years!