Originally Posted by marimorimo

Thanks-you just made me realize I should take a step back and not be too hard on myself as I just started out. After my initial post, I went on my first group ride with my hubby's workmates who were very considerate of the weaker riders (me). They stopped to wait at intersections and always had someone riding behind to protect my back from traffic. During the first third of the ride I stayed on the big gear, thinking I would need it to keep up, but it wasn't going so well for me so I switched to the more familiar and comfortable middle gear for the rest of the ride--and it turned out that aside from the hills, I could keep up just fine! I had to change my pedaling technique mid-ride to try to keep up with the riders in front and increased my cruising speed to 26-28 kph, which I had previously never achieved before

So your advice of going with people a little faster than myself is spot-on!