You guys read so much into shit that isn't there. I never said I hated group rides and that every group ride was miserable. I rode in all kinds of rides, and enjoyed them all of course. There were times we just went out and cruised around, times we went out and played, etc, all were fun. Just like now, sometimes I just go cruise around, sometimes (well mostly) I go out and play.
When talking about groups, there's a lot of group dynamics. Consider groups of basically random people and friends, or even very close personal friends. There's going to be different dynamics in phantom ball and chain. Different groups are going to have different expectations.
Yannih and Grn - You're talking about riding with groups but still being free to do what you want. These are scenarios that could very well play out in reality. The real question is at what point are you group riding, or no longer group riding?
Close friends
Consider you're riding with a group of very close friends and decide to pull way ahead so far that you lose them. You're having so much fun you decide to skip the first stop and go to the next one 20 miles down the road. So you stop and wait. They don't come. After about 45 minutes you get a call "dude where are you?...we've been looking for you thought you must've wrecked."
Random group
Consider this example. You're out riding solo, get to a great road and see a group of similar bikes at a stop point. You pull in and end up chatting with them. You all end up talking about riding as a group. You're like "well hey, I like to ride fast" and they're like "oh yeah, we do to". So it's on. Cool, you're part of a group, a lot better than riding solo.
You volunteer to start off. Quickly you realize their version of fast is vastly different from yours. You realize no one's going to keep up with you if you ride anywhere near your usual pace. So you pick up the pace to increase your level of fun. You end up pulling so far ahead that you can't even tell if they're behind you.
So 30 miles down the road you pull off for a break with a huge smile on your face. Man, what a ride you're thinking. Sit down on the bench and decide that you'll wait for the group to catch up. 15 minutes later they pull in. They all get off their bikes and start talking about that turn and how Ted ran wide in that corner, and Jeff did a wheelie, but they aren't talking to you.
So you're like "oh hey guys good ride?" And they're like "yeah thanks" and go back to talking to each other. You get the point and decide to get on your bike and continue on the way.
Are you really group riding at this point?