Multi-speed group-ride still winds up as pain and suffering for one.

I got an invite on Facebook last night to a group road ride. Feeling spunky, I snatched the 32c tires off of my crossbike and installed some 23c slicks I had laying around. Now, the reputation of this ride as a suffer-fest precedes it, and is not undeserved. I finally got to sleep last night around 11:00, with my 1980's era Bianchi Axis prepped and my belly full of Guiness. My alarm went off at 5:00 and after a couple of snooze button taps I drug myself out of bed, suited up and grabbed a quick bite and a cup of coffee. I arrived at the meeting point at 6:00 to find everyone ready to go. We began the ride at a casual pace for about half a mile. At which point the hammer dropped. I fell in and sat churning as best as I could, trying to find a gear that would allow me to spin a cadence and wattage I felt I could maintain. The pace-line rotated at no paticular predetermined rate of rider exchange or speed. When my turn up front came around I attacked with zeal. Referencing my computer and pulling at the pace we had been averageing. When I felt I could no longer hold that pace I signaled to drop back and pulled out to the side. Unable to hold on to the string I went off the back and fell into what I felt was a maintainable speed of 20mph and continued spinning down the road enjoying my view of the Gulf at dawn. When I reached my own predetermined turn around I made my u-turn and headed back towards the starting point. The group does not stay together on this ride and when the leaders caught up to me, there were only two of them remaining. As we approached a red-light another member of the ride caught up and the four of us continued on together. I would love to tell you that I gutted it out and hung in till we arrived at the finish, but, I was dropped again. The ride for me ended with a sense of pain, destruction, and inspiration. As I spun home at a relaxed pace I thought to myself that I was very much looking forward to next Tuesday's ride. More please.

My stats on the ride look like this:
Average speed: 17.8mph
Max speed: 31.6mph
Distance: 35.38miles