I have 3 group rides a week usually and immensely enjoy training on the bike. One of my recognized weaknesses is when in a paceline following a rider. I don't have a cyclocomputer on my bike because the bike came from the parents and little stuff like that has to wait to be bought yet. (grandmother said birthday?) Anyways, I have no problem holding group speed and its great to follow faster riders because they inspire you to ride faster and to hold it. I'm battling a problem though and thats trying to keep my wheel constanstly behind the rider, 2-3 feet. Its odd but I'm not sure if its fear of sudden breaking and crashing or if its just a lack of some coordination I don't yet have developed. I generally have the gap of 4-5 feet and it gets addressed by coaching staff all the time. I'm feeling terrible as it isn't improving. I have been behind the wheel before closely but I can't hold it there. I'd appreciate any input! Thanks!

Technically, you don't have to be within 2mm of someone's wheel to get drafting benefit, though some people seem very hung up on that idea. However: the closer the better. 1-2 feet is ideal, and the benefit drops of geometrically as it increases. At 4-5 feet back, you're going to be working a lot harder than you need to be.

Practice with trusted leaders will improve your confidence, but practice with crappy leaders will hurt it, so try to find some people who are good at it to practice with.

Edit: I should point out that "faster" is not necessarily "good" . . . I consider a good leader someone who can maintain a steady pace, not be wobbling left and right, not jerky, etc. I've seen a lot of "fast" riders who are very squirrely, and it sucks to be on their wheel.

I'm pretty good in the pack, I have no problems being just a few inches off the rear wheel of whomever I'm behind.

How I learned to be comfortable with that is to practice placing my focus on what is in front of the rider in front of me. With only brief flickers to the his rear wheel, I mostly try to pretend I'm in his spot. It helps to anticipate any sudden corrections he may have to make.

Don't fixate on their wheel.
Watch their body, and get used to that interval.
While you're doing that, watch what's happening in front of them. Anticipate speed changes.

Eventually, the interval becomes second nature.

If you're watching their rear wheel, it's too late to react to anything.

Don't stare at the wheel of the person in front of you. That makes it really hard to notice obsticles, traffic, etc. Keep an eye on the rider in front of the one you are following. Watch for hand signs, sudden movement, etc. If you don't have a lot of room to maneuver, moving a few inches to one side of the person in front of you can give you a lot more visibility and also give you an easier escape route if you need it.

If you are a beginner, you should stay towards the back of the pack until you feel real comfortable with group riding. If you make a mistake, you could easily cause everyone behind you to crash. Also, staying at the back allows you to watch and learn.

Yeah, some of my riding partners in high school used to be like that. My good friend used to be totally terrified of even coming within 5 feet of my wheel, and we'd push him to draft. My advice is to scrape together a few bucks and get a basic speedometer (Cateye Mity 8 or similar, they can be had for 20 bucks) so that you can give yourself an idea of how stable your speed is.

Sounds like you're getting some good training in, great! Don't worry about a computer, it won't help you stay on a wheel smoothly. When holding a wheel, especially in 40mph+ sprints, I always hear that radio-noise from Star Wars, "STAY ON TARGET!" While you don't want to stare at the wheel, you want to pay attention to the gap. As others said, look at the rider's back and hips so you can see the entire pack ahead of you and the road beyond them. Your binocular vision is what tells you the distance, you can maintain close-spacing without even looking down at the wheel. Get used to judging distance to the rider's hips with your eyes.

Then be observant and responsive. A 2-foot gap is fine for drafting, but before it develops into a 5-foot gap, it had to go to 2.5ft, then 3.0ft, then 3.5ft, then 4.0ft, then 4.5ft... it doesn't happen immediately. So pay attention and when you see the gap increase by 0.5ft, add a little more spin to your legs. Then when the gap narrows to 2.0ft, soft-pedal so that by the time you're perfectly synchronized with the speed of teh rider ahead, you'll be 1.5ft... Then when you drift to 2.5ft, add some more power... then soft-pedal. Continual feedback and adjustment. Also helps to monitor the guys and road ahead of the guy that's direclty ahead of you, because they will affect how the guy directly ahead will respond and you want to respond before he does...

With enough practice, you can modulate your power-output to be exactly as needed to maintain constant speed and spacing with the rider ahead. Then it's safe and easy to draft just 1ft behind them... no yo-yo effect. Keep up the good work!

Look at the riders head and body instead of their wheel. You'll be able to better react to their actions.

Drift left or right out of the draft and or soft pedal instead of braking when possible.

Practice makes perfect as well - keep doin' what you're doin'