Understatement of the thread so far I managed to keep up last night, so that is a good thing! At the turnaround a group took off before me but I decided to hang back with a few others. About a couple miles after that I saw the main pack up ahead and foolishly thought "Oh I will just catch up to them". I hadn't realized how much faster I would have to go to do this. It never happened but I did learn something so I guess it is all good.

Pants are a must next. Decent brands anyone??

This is what's known as No Man's Land. Not a fun place to be, is it?

based on a.) you've not been riding for long or just don;t ride often, or both. so my advise based on this is:

don;t worry about developing paceline skills yet.

more important:

Understand this and ride accordingly: Even though you are in a 'group', you are still riding 'your own ride'. That means, MAKE GOOD decisions for your self regarding safety, traffic and road conditions. I assume you're on an open road with traffic; ride smart and within your envelope. Just because riders in front of you do one thing don;t blindly follow like sheeple...
This is actually a tough thing to do. The 'group' mentality is contagious and can cause many to do things they wouldn't otherwise do, riding alone.
Don;t leave your brain at the start of the ride.

Develop the ability to scan ahead, beyond the rider just in front of you. The further up you can scan, the more time you have to react to other rider's actions, traffic, road conditions.
Try not to focus on the wheel just in front of you, no matter how tough the pace may get.
Look up, scan ahead.
This becomes second nature to accomplished riders... They hold conversations while still being able to see everything important happening ahead and within strike radius.

Work on developing a steady pace skill. That doesn;t mean pedal/brake/pedal/brake. It means trying to keep whatever steady pace, by moderating the pedaling....
pedal/soft pedal/coast/softpedal/pedal.... and so on - little or no braking while trying to be steady. This is a more difficult skill to develop and some never get it.
It's the cornerstone of being able to ride in a good paceline. It's the cornerstone of riding in any group at reasonable close proximity.
Pick a safe/comfortable distance from a steady rider (of your choice) in front of you and try to maintain that distance by using pedal/softpedal/coast in combinations which keep you steady. It will be hard at first; but will develop eventually.
hint: 'spinning' a gear more easily allows this than pushing a bigger gear. Pushing a gear usually cause a jerky riding style in untrained riders...
This will BASIC Skill will pay you back in Spades in any future group ride situation.

Be self-sufficient. carry what you need for drinks/eats, carry what you need for basic flat tire repair or tube replacement and know how to do it. Know enough about the route to make it 'back' to wherever you need to go, on your own if necessary.
I'm always in awe of the number of riders who come to a ride unprepared to take care of themselves. If that means just a cellphone and eventual pickup, well fine then, but don;t expect others to be waitin for you.
carry important contact info.

none of these comments assume that you would do anything inconsiderate - I'm just focusing on the 'common sense' expected things.

Group rides can be great fun and they always make the miles seem way shorter than doing them on your own.
And, of course, have fun

Oh, and comfortable riding shorts pay back immediately, whether they're the regular roadie kind or the MTB shorts with liner.

Well I survived. It was pretty cool actually. Of course I was the only one in street clothes but that's ok. The A group started out, and then we got the rules of the ride and the B group rolled out. I just rode in the back of the pack to kind of get my bearings. Before long we had hit the half way point and stopped and turned around and snagged a drink while some folks did a couple hills. The main pack got started back but I had hung back to just follow one of the folks I had spoken with. Before long there was a decent distance between me and the main group and I thought "Ahh what the heck, let me see if I can catch up to the back of the pack". Rookie mistake. I took off to catch them but obviously had grossly miscalculated how much it would take to bridge that much distance. Soooo...I would have been better off to sit and ride behind the two nice women vs. riding by myself for several miles trying to catch up

Overall it was quite enjoyable and a bit of a challenge. I did get some of the biker shorts that had the shorts over them from the wife so it might be better this week. Now for a jersey! I wasn't too sore until the following night. I guess that is normal. I rode that night as well, just no hills as I knew my legs were not 100% by any means.

Good times!