I've learned very quickly (got back on the bike a few months after a 15+ year hiatus) that you have to ride your own ride. My current level of fitness and capability has me too fast for the slower groups and too slow for the faster groups in my area and getting dropped early in a 40+ mile que-less group ride is no fun. I'd much prefer the dynamic and fun of a group ride but ultimately if I'm going to cruise around for 2-3 hours on my weekend mornings I want to maximize my time on the saddle.

For every 2-3 groups I see cruise by me, there's another dozen solo riders. The other day at a red light, one of those solo riders who was chatty decided to ride along side me for a bit (I welcomed it). We got to talk about solo riding versus the group dynamic and we both agreed that there's definitely advantages and disadvantages to each. He was a much stronger rider than me and I asked him what his secret was to enjoy a group ride. It took him a moment but his insight made sense:

Be able to maintain 15-20% more than the group average for half of that ride's distance. It made sense, really. If I was stronger than the group average I could chase/attack/hammer along with the other people who opted to introduce that element into a casual ride. This way when I want to zip along side them I could but I was also capable of completing the run with the group when I needed to let my heart rate return to normal levels.