Jim said you were talking with him about riding in Lakeland. Far fewer stops and less traffic but is a tiny bit hillier inland (not counting the bridges here) so speeds tend to be a little higher. Don't worry too much about the launches. I have to tone my launches way down in order to let the guys hang on (I still haven't run across anyone who can launch as fast and I'm slowing down).
Judy's been practicing doing the
bridge loop on the Wed morning (social) breakfast ride lately and is getting a lot better at them. You need to try the bridges on. They are easy as compared to the hills near Helotes but the best we can ride around here.
We also need to run down to
Ft Desoto (google ran out of route tags so I couldn't finish the route but it's close enough).
If you are here on Sunday, we can do the social ride down the beach and back. That's a controlled 20-22mph ride except for the last 4 or so miles up the beach, then we go eat breakfast. I usually pull the few remaining fast guys at about 30mpg avg on the fast stretch but the group gets pretty spread out so just jump on with a slower group if you can't hang on. If the John's Pass bridge isn't up, you can try to hang on when climbing that one. I crested it at 32mph yesterday, which is a lot faster than I've seen anyone else do it. :^)
We could also ride out to Lakeland and back to go ride with Jim if you want to make a day of it. It's about 60 miles to Lakeland. Get to ride through downtown Tampa twice that way!