It has worked out very well that I passed on a century tomorrow. Interval experience tells me that I only have a handful of times in a training session where I can go into extended high heart rate periods. Exceeding that number just destroys the body's ability to recover. The plan is to back off for a few days and see what else my body is telling me that it can do. My mind always forgets that my body is aging! 
Mike:? Lynn tells me that in her experience the "base" continues to improve/increase over time, even if the level of exertion is constant.? I was a better biker the first week of this summer than I was the first week of last summer, and I will be a better biker the first week of next year (and then can build on that).? Has to do with the body building new capillaries and ability to circulate blood to new muscles and stuff.? She just uses the word "base" to reflect all of this.? In my mind, its sort of like taking three bike specific steps forward in the summertime and one bike specific step backwards in the winter.? Still leaves us 2 steps forward at the beginning of the next year.? I'm not sure I understand it, but she's run the NYC marathon several times and her husband was a nationally ranked triathlete and well-respected swim coach, and they are bound to know more than me.?
Keep at it, you'll be surprised.? I wasn't as committed and focused as you, but my first year 8 miles was a long ride and I got to 15-20.? Last year 40 miles was a long ride, 20 was easy and doing 78 at the Farm Ride surprised me.? This year 25-30 is pretty easy and 43.5 last weekend wasn't hard.? I'll probably do a Metric Century in the Shenandoah Valley in September and don't feel too much need to even focus on trainiing.? I can do 3x20 mile rides with a rest stop in between each without too much stress.? But I don't have much desire to ride 100 miles. I think you'll surprise yourself, but it probably takes longer than when we were 25.
My hardest lesson has been learning to ride at an aerobically sustainable pace when going up hills rather than burning up my quads trying to ride faster and becoming anaerobic.
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