the best experience with a group ride comes when the riders are well matched. my favourite, are early season long rides that are predominantly racers. the pace is steady and conversational, and for four or five hours, there will be some combativity on climbs and sprints, but a regrouping afterwards.
tuesday inseason rides have been actual club races, or very hard paceline work with relatively even skilled riders. if you are in the front three groups, you need to be able to hold 50+km in a rotating double pace line on the flats.
my club's mitigation of risk policy was to limit groups on hard rides to 10-12, all drop except for the easiest of groups. if you get blown out of a group, another one a couple of minutes back will sweep you up.