Tuesday Hammer Fest

I haven't been to a tuesday night group ride in so long. I am have been doing a lot of solo training or have been too busy to make it so it was fun to get out and hammer with some FAST riders again. We headed out to Whitewater lake, well we made it to the lake before having to turn around. On the way out we were pushing a pretty good head wind, the group split up and the "A" guys put the hammer down. I was pushing pretty hard taking pulls at 24-26 mph. Ever stop ahead sign was a sprint finish. I just pulled through and was starting to drift to the back when everyone stood up and were gone! I grabbed a couple gears stood up and had to work to get back on the tail end of the group. I caught some wind off of Ken P. and used that to up the pace, I got around Joe and had Mark and Jason in my sights but time was running out. I stayed wide of Mark so I won't get hit by his head wind. At the sign I had edged out both Mark and Jason by inches. When we got to the lake we turned around and had a nice tail wind. A couple of us were told to go and that we were going to be the "rabbit" and the group would then caught us. I told them, lets drop them the entire ride! With that we were gone, pulling at 28-30 for miles on end hurts even with the wind. The pack was coming but we were holding them off until we had to stop and wait for some cars at an intersection. Bob and two other riders had dropped off so I went back and picked them up and pulled them back to the group, right as we got on I was totally BLASTED, and they all took off. We weren't recovered enough to up the pace and we were off the back again. I tried to talk Bob into going for it but he was done. I tried to get back on and was pushing 28-29 for a mile or so solo but the group was still gaping me so I sat up.
It was a great ride, I needed that intensity after doing a lot of base miles. The days are getting shorter and the evenings are cooler, I can't believe fall is already coming.