Good to have you alongside, Bud, and good to see Robert and meet Brian!!!  I had forgotten that Robert was planning to come out and meet us at the Shell.
 
I hadn't done this ride myself for about three months.  The route out to the Shell is the same as it's been for several months (detour up to BeltLine due to construction on Northaven), and the group of ~30+ riders regrouped a few times along the way.
 
The Airport loop itself has changed, due to Esters Rd being torn up -- now, instead of circling it clockwise, the groups go CCW, and either do the tower loop and reverse (essentially in a big "C" route), and the shorter distance group rides to Walnut Hill and shortcuts back.  With the south winds today, it made for a challenging first half southbound, and an even tougher return from the tower.  I wasn't sure how the return was supposed to go, so Bud went off ahead of me before we hit the tower loop, while I rode a bit slower with Robert.  Brian went with the "shortcut" group, so we didn't really see him during the ride.
 
Robert and I hung together on the southbound leg after the tower, then I took off to attempt to catch Bud -- not really thinking I could, but what the hey...   I passed about a dozen riders or so, holding a good 22-25 with the (now) tailwind, but never saw the Bud Man until I got back to the Shell station.
 
The shortcut group was ready to head back already, so us "slackers" hung out for a bit longer at the break.  Bud and I tried to convice Robert and Brian to do another loop, but I guess they had had enough for today    .   Brian commented, "I'm 26 yrs old, and you guys are kicking my butt!!!"  
(Only temporary, friend...)
 
So, we bagged the extra loop, and headed back with a group of 10 or so, that slowly became smaller through attrition until there were only four, and we got back to the parking lot right about 12.   As Bud said, Terrie drove out to meet us, and we had a good lunch at the BBQ place, with cold A/C and cold beer!!!   I've got a few pics, I'll get 'em posted later tonight.
 
I had 64+ miles due to some extra credit before the ride, at a ~16 average, although most of our flat cruising was at 18-20 with tailwind, and 12-14 with headwind.
 
 

My intention was to do my best to hang with Bud and Paul on the first loop and then take another loop at a more moderate pace.  Kept up pretty well till after the turnaround at the control tower, but that stretch back into the wind pretty much finished me off.  I recovered a little after that and caught up to Paul and a couple of uprights.  Paul picked up the speed after that and took off on his own, and one of the uprights and I did the best we could, mostly keeping up a 20 mph pace.  Also got to answer a lot of his questions about recumbents, starting with "what's the difference between recumbents and uprights?"  Ended up with 23.5 miles at a 17.3 avg, which is WAY fast for me, nearly as fast as the 12 mile TT race.  Brian and I both were pretty exhausted after that so opted to go home.  Also I'd started cramping at the last overpass before getting back to the Shell station.  That's not as many miles as I normally do on Saturdays, but was substantially faster.  I need to do more speed work!
Good to see Paul and Bud, who in my opinion has made a heckuva recovery from his health issues!  Way to go Bud!