am i missing something? Join the club!
then it's YOUR club. Sensitive? I am too. I take everything like that personally.

if he says "I think it might be more than you can do" (is that what he said? re-read your post, it wasn't clear) if he's ridden with you, maybe he's just concerned that it is an order of magnitude harder than the last ride you completed with the club. But you just did some mighty hills on your own.
Call him back and say i did this hill and that hill recently, I think i can handle a 25 mile ride..

The problem is honestly, if these guys are A LOT better (ie faster) than you,
whoever holds back for you is not getting a workout like he'd like to.

There are some people that don't mind doing that, but most people are too self centered and want to ride their own ride.

I hope this helps.