A rare chance to ride through DC and on some good paved trails after work. Even got rained on and had to hide in a parking garage entrance for 15 minutes or so (mile 3.5 or so) followed by multiple miles of wet pavement (and puddles). But it was a hot, humid day to start and the rain cooled it down to just humid. Part of the hiding was waiting for Dan in order to ride north with him for awhile as he headed home, so the first 10 miles were accompanied and ... starting to wonder if riding with others on pavement is really a good choice. Felt awful most of the ride. Elevated heart rate; legs not that great; only thing that makes sense was that we, as usual, started off really fast. Faster than solo rides have been of late. Weather might have had something to do with it? Stopped for five minutes or so at Bladensburg waterfront (mile 18.2) and got off the bike and that helped for a little while. Finally started feeling a little better after ANOTHER stop at mile 25.3 but that felt more like 30 miles in April instead of late July. SMH. MORE WORK!