Hey, I'm fat, forty (far too close to 50) and female. None of this is going to change in any hurry - though my pants are fitting more loosely all the time. AND I ride a big ol' recumbent bike with fairing.

The point being, by all rights, I should be intimidated by all the super-fit twenty-somethings on helium bikes. BAH! I'm not, and you shouldn't be either. We are who we are, and we like our bikes.

Enjoy your bike. Try a ride with a club and see what happens. What's the worst that can happen, anyway? If you're slow, you're slow. You'll get faster. If you don't like the club, find your own routes or a different club.

Be happy, you ride a bike.