Total newbie here, so for what it's worth I'm in the same predicament as you are. The person I will be riding with most of the time has a road bike. I also don't want to sink "that kind of money" into a road bike, but also don't want to stay behind. I ended up buying a hybrid. If it turns out that I really like cycling and stick with it, then I'll 'graduate' to a road bike. I suppose I can always sell the current bike or maybe they do trade-ins? I've no clue about that.

Anyway, yesterday I rode with my friend and I can see he is not going to stick with my slowness eventhough he was very accommodating. He is training for a tri so I understand. We've decided that we'll go out for X amount of time, he'll be ahead, and at a predetermined time we will both head back (our rides are all out and back at this point). I think that should work. I'm used to running alone, so I've no problem with riding alone. I just better learn to change my tires and patch a flat!

As a newbie, water bottle and sunscreen seem of upmost importance to me. Sunglasses are a given as I live in Florida.