I got my bike in May (~700 miles ago) when I first started the Tuesday night ride with the LBS race team, I was was out of my league. I was also getting dropped like a hot rock at a hot rock dropping contest ( I loved that analogy!). I kept going and have steadily improved to the point that I now takes my share of pulls and at worse cause the group to slow pedal for a minute after a really fast interval.

If you WANT to get there and are willing to push yourself hard, you WILL get there.

One thing I learned is that trying to catch a paceline is a great workout as you try SOOO hard to not get dropped and for as long as you stay close you are doing more work than they are as you are not sharing pulls. For me, chasing the group has upped my fitness level immensely. I have also learned that sprinting to close gaps is worth the pain for the reduced effort once you close...