bigfred 

Glad to hear that you gave it a try!

Yes, it's not much fun to go for a "group" ride by yourself. Trust me, we've all been there. Everyone who completed in the main group has been dropped before. And some continue to get dropped, just further along than you, as you experienced.

If the social side interests you, I encourage you to carry on.

With regard to you're lessons, at least for now.

1. Correct, don't cycle 7 miles as a warm up, when you know the group is going to "warm up" from the parking lot. I know of other group rides, where most of the participants cycle to the start and are already "warmed" when they leave the parking lot.
2.For now, don't go hard the day before your group ride. At some point, as your performance increases, group rides may actually start to represent "moderate" to "easy" distance rides. But for now, nothing harder than a recovery ride the day before.
3. Oatmeal! It's Mrs. Fred's and my secret weapon. It seems to have more stick to your ribs, slow release, energy than just about anything else we've tried. Then, we carry three types of pocket snack: First, a piece of fruit (banana, orange wedges, etc.), Second, a longer chain carb snack (usually granola bars), Third, simple sugars to get to the finish(rice crispie treats, jellies, etc.)
4. You can't over estimate the effects of weight loss. Specially if you're climbing! Just imagine strapping a 20-50lb back pack on and going for a ride. Cycling is a great tool for weight loss. Not only does it engage the big calorie burning leg muscles, but, it encourages you to continue loose weight by delivering positive reinforcement for your successes.

Keep up the good work. And next time you pass a couple of peleton refugee's, "SLOW DOWN" for a few minutes. Give them a draft to suck. They're as toasted as you were when you got spit. Once they've recovered, you'll have the beginnings of the "B" group. When you find the third refugee, explain to the second that both of you will slow just a little to collect said person. Let the third sit in, while you and #2 do the work. Now, you'll have a paceline and you'll no longer be cycling alone. YOU, will have formed a group. This is one of the hardest lessons to get newish peleton refugees to subscribe to. Once people get dropped, they tend to go into solo mode. Then, when they have the opportunity to collect a fellow rider, they speed up, pass, gap and destroy, in order to increase their self esteem. Thereby assuring that the other solo'ists remain just that. If you adopt the former instead of the latter, you may find that you become a B group hero. Groups typically have a "leader" in them. The "leader" is frequently not at the front.