16 Miles, but who's counting?

I have watched my Dad get out and ride the roads many times, but I have never had the courage to go with him. My two biggest fears were not being able to do it and getting hit by a car!! Yesterday I bit the bullett!! We hopped on his bikes (I'm thankful he has an extra expensive play toy that I could borrow) at 5:30 and off we rode. By the time we got to Anchor Park I was whipped.. I was hoping in some magical way we had already gone 5 miles, but instead we had barely gone 2.. I continued to pedal, breathe hard and whine a lot.. The first 8 miles kicked my butt, but the last 8 miles weren't so bad. We did 16.3 miles and averaged 14 mph in a little over one hour. In the process of learning to shift gears I knocked the chain off at the beginning on the ride. After that, I mastered shifting the gears. I am hooked!! I loved the feeling of accomplishing 16 miles... I have already scoped out a few rides that I would like to try...one being H.O.W. (Hope on Wheels). It is a breast cancer ride in middle Tennessee. It is an all girls bike ride and they had 430 participants last year.