Surprise Canadian Century, Eh?

So, I showed up for a group ride at an LBS I've never ridden with before yesterday, and it turns out to be a 100k ride, considerably more than the 30 or 40 miles I was expecting. I decided to treat it like a race, since I'm coming off a rest week. It was only my second group ride, and we started off with 57 riders. I took BT advice and hung out on the edges/back to observe and learn the group conventions. Almost got dropped by the A group a couple of times, first when the B group split off and later when I got boxed in behind a guy who was slowing down, but both times I was able to chase them down. In the last 20 miles, I worked my way to the front, took my turns pulling, and even joined a sprint. It was a blast, and it felt great to be able to run with the big dogs.