Continuing on from what @Sammy_Ryu said here,
This was my first group ride since last spring. I was leading. It took some time to review all the necessary documentation and get it downloaded to my phone. It had also been a while since I had plotted a route and this was the first ride shared with the new Discourse Forum. All these things together resulted in me posting the ride quite late. I was happy to see Sammy had found it and signed up.
Thanks Sammy for being patient as I worked through all the pre-ride screening and such.
It felt fantastic to ride with someone else again. There was some time where we could be social, but even with lots of single-file riding it was more enjoyable. This also made a big difference in maintaining a consistent effort. Whether riding in front and trying to maintain a decent pace or following Sammy who is much stronger it upped my pace without feeling it so much… at least in the beginning.
The pace was more than a kph faster than my estimate. This seemed impressive to me because I think every single gravel road had fresh gravel. It seems the townships had a good gravel budget this year 
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Often I find it difficult to capture how nice it is to be out riding our bikes in Waterloo Region in a picture. However, today even the the picture popped.
Needless to say, I was feeling the extra effort toward the end of the ride. At that point, riding with Sammy kept me working rather than just cruising in. That was a solid workout for me. I expect my legs will be feeling it tomorrow.
Looking forward to more.
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