This coming Sunday's ride, a 102 mile loop from Billericay, has a "loop manager" on Facebook, Steve Hunter. I contacted him to find out whether there was any point in my joining the ride and trying to keep up. Apparently they are scheduling in 11h 40m of riding time, with two shortish stops. Steve said that his problem was going to be the opposite of mine as he normally rides at about 18mph! I'm going to go to the start of the ride and see how I get on. If, as a group, they keep up between 11 and 12 mph, then I will probably manage to keep up. Anything faster and I will struggle.
I am a bit disappointed that I can't be there all day to see how I get on, but my duty as a grandfather intervenes.