Friday's Are Easy

Today was supposed to be an easy nooner... yea right.
We started with five guys, three of whom I have only seen sparingly, and I have not caught their names. I will call 'em Giant Force Guy (as in Giant bike with Force components) Giant Campy Guy (Giant bike with Campy components... you don't see Campy too much out on the rides, and this bike was looking sweet) and Bianchi Guy. These three guys did most of the pulling.
Then there was me and Eric... I believe that's his name. He's a couple of years older than me, skinny as a rail but strong like an Oxen. He can hammer. I've been hummed off his wheel many times.
So, we rolled out to Dodds. Man, it was smoking hot out there. I pulled a few times, relatively short ones, but I let the other guys do most of the work. They seemed to want to ride really hard into the wind and heat, so I let them. But I was getting tired as we turned onto Alfalfa Market.
Literally, I was tasting the heat. I felt that every bit of water I took on was warm, and was having no effect on me. One time we came around a parked truck, and I could taste the heat coming off the van... or was that exhaust fumes? It just felt hot and awful for the most part.
I was struggling to stay on. I did not like the heat today.
When we crossed the Powell Butte Hwy, I thought we would slow down a bit, but the others got right back on their gear, and were in the process of mowing me under. That felt very below average.
I'm starting to rethink the whole thing about riding when it's hot, and maybe I should only go out when it's cooler... like early in the morning. I could do a seven AM ride, and be home by nine and everyone would be happy. Right? I just know that I was not finding the legs or the gear or anything today. It wasn't working for me... and it didn't feel like an easy Friday ride at all.