You know, it's not (all) about the beer; it's more of a scheduling thing for me, too (although the beer is a good thing).
I run, bike and lift weights five or six days a week, but to do that consistently (at 42, with small kids, a job in Nashville and a wife who works weekends) I have to keep the workouts short and fun. I could give two hours (three, w/lunch) to a Saturday ride, but that's it. Thus, the Drunken ******* rides should always start at 10-ish and end at 12-ish, with lunch and drinks going to 1-ish (personally, I'd like to keep the apres-ride spots to downtown restaurants with outside patios. We get stinky while riding - nuff said. Likewise, I'm only going to places from where I can ride my bike home. To me, it defeats the purpose of bike riding to load up your SUV and drive a few miles to eat somewhere. Finally, I'd rather be on my bike after a few brews, not behind the wheel of a couple of thousand pounds of steel)
Beyond that, I'm kind of leery about throwing out how fast we'd ride, how far, etc., anything except a start point and time, a general route and a finish point at a restaurant - you can overthink these things and take away from the fun.
Likewise, as far as the pace being too fast or too slow, don't sweat it. If you're left behind at a point, or lead a breakaway from le pelaton, so be it (Personally, at 42 I'm more interested in steady calorie-burning,chatting and the scenery than drafting with the hard-core types). I like my own Saturday ride to be fun and a little easier, but that's just me.
I think the motto of the Drunken ******* rides should be "Do whatever the hell you want to." If you want to join us afterwards at a restaurant for a few cold ones, c'mon. And if you don't, that's fine, too.
