I had the luxury of having some friends who were patient enough to wait for me to finish certain climbs and wouldn't completely drop me. It was awesome to have them up there to push me to go harder.

I've been riding pretty intensely and now get to push them a bit and will do the same for them as they did for me. It may very well reverse again -- good fun.

I tried a larger group ride with strangers and found myself first in a bunch of merciless buggers who did nothing but joke about the brand name of my bike and complain about my ability to hold a line (been a long time since I've ridin in a peloton with any speed & I did indeed suck at it) -- when they dropped me whilst I was stopped to get a Cliff bar out of my stuck zippered pocket I ended up with a group that had a rule not to exceed 15 mph.... ever.

I suppose the lesson is, good friends can make great riding buddies, but often it's better to ride alone.