20 Miles and still slow....

I did a 20 miler today early this morning and it was glorious. I am trying to pick up the pace though because 8.8 MPH is slow mo fo sure. At that rate I will finish the ride in 4 hours. It's a community ride and not a race, but my concern for this is that we start at 8 am and it seems I will finish at 12 noon. The trouble with this is that the beer garden closes at noon. I need to find a way to pick up the pace between now and then so I can make it to the beer garden in time for a luscious frothing iced coldie.

Today I rode from my house in North Park down to Seaport Village, over to Harbor Island, Through Point Loma and back up to Little Italy. Its so nice to ride the bay in the morning when barely any people are there and the breeze is light. As I approached the airport bridge a man swooped in from behind and said "good morning Mandi" I replied with "oh my goodness I didn't even know that was you" He rode past me very fast and I thought it was my neighbor Omar. I thought to myself "this would be really weird if it was Omar because I have never seen him ride anywhere, ever. I have seen him write a ton of food reviews and if I were to have seen him at the local breakfast spot or lunch eatery, it would have made more sense. Seeing him on a bike trail at 8 am just is a little weird." Minutes after this brain trail, he rode past me again, the other direction and after looking at him in the face I realized this was not Omar my neighbor. It was just a stranger on a bike. How did he know my name? this time when he rode past he said "Hi again darlin'" and he rode past me really fast. I was really creeped out. Then I realized, my name is on the back of my bike. My husband's cousin Sam bought me a "MANDI" liscene plate for Christmas last year. It was very nice, but, now that creepy old men are saying "Mornin' Mandi" and "hey darlin" I may have to take it off to protect my bike riding anonymity. I am sure it was just a nice morning gesture, visualizing that he is just a nice random bike riding dude that just delves out well wishes by the dozens to other morning riders. This is what I am telling myself anyway.
Despite the creepy greeting from the Non Omar, the ride was pretty easy. I ended my ride with brunch in little italy. Instead of riding the final 5 miles home all up hill, I called an UBER SUV who picked me up in 5 minutes flat and loaded my bike into his suburban. Why hadn't I thought of this before? In the past when I ride longer than the training ride and need to get home I hop on the #2 or #6 bus. UBER SUV, way to be.