Originally Posted by paisan

I know I have to be reading this wrong because you said:

But then said:


Either way, at least you showed up, that's the biggest hurdle to group rides. Now that you've got that out of the way and have a general feel for the pace of the ride you can tweak your preparation and only get stronger/better from here. You've already made some observations on what you did wrong. I say fix those things and give it another shot before you throw in the towel on group rides.