Fun & Fitness over 50

Last night I participated in a group ride sponsored by the Mohawk Hudson Cycling Club. I'd been wanting to do one of these for a long time and it finally worked out. The ride started at 6PM from a local park'n'ride only a few miles from my house so I rode over. There was quite a crowd. I would say about 40 riders. There was also another group starting from that location but it was a faster ride. As the ride organizer, Bill, told me when I asked how I would identify his ride, he said look for the older, heavier group. Sounds like my kind of ride! It was billed as a 13-14mph 18 mile ride but they changed the route at the last minute for variety. It wound up being just about 20 miles. The ride went south along familiar territory for me. Then at the turn around point it went through some roads and an area that was new to me. A quiet, beautiful country road with easy and picturesque rollers called Bushendorf. I wound up hanging with a group of 4 or 5 riders and it was just what I was looking for. It didn't kill me but pushed me a little beyond my usual average effort. I was trying to keep it easy leading up to my 100K Tour de Cure on Sunday. I'm debating whether to keep to the 100K or ratchet it down to the 1/2 century 'cause they are predicting upper 90s and high humidity for Sunday. Also, my riding team, the Bethlehem Stars, wants me to be there for the team photo at 8AM but the 100K is supposed to start at 7:30. If I do wind up doing the 100K I want to get as early a start as possible so I can take a few breaks in the heat and still finish with a reasonable time.
I was surprised to see my heart rate kind of high initially. On one of the first moderate climbs I saw my HR at 97%MHR! And I didn't feel like I was working that hard either! I had just eaten a big dinner and that was sitting kind of heavy plus I usually ride first thing in the AM not 6 at night. I was wondering if that was it. Then I was riding in the 80%s where I would usually be 70-75%MHR. On the return leg my HR was more normal so I wasn't concerned. Plus, I just felt fine. Comfortable.
This was a lot of fun. Got to meet a few people, found a new fun route and pushed myself a little. I would like to join the bike club and get one of their cool club jerseys too! ;-)
Here's the route from MapMyRide.com: