Originally Posted by tjspiel

There are definitely fast group rides around that are less serious about that sort of thing. When I was doing more of them a few years ago, one of my favorites was a group that included MTB racers, CXers, criterium racers, along with just every day folks. People would show up on fixies and yeah, if they could keep up, that's all that really mattered. It was supposed to be an "intermediate" ride but given the competitive nature of the people that typically showed up, the pace could be brutal at times (for me).

Freewheel bikes hosts some nice rides and the Twin Cities Bicycling club has a number of them for all types of rider (A to C).