Rain, the worst thing that has ever happened to me riding alone was that a chain broke and I walked my bike 7 miles home. But then I tend to ride out in farm land. Now I keep a chain tool & a spare chain connector thing (the sram powerlinks) on my bikes. But if I'd been farther, I'd have just headed for a coffee shop or mcdonald's or whatever, called a friend and sat there twiddling my thumbs or posting facebook status updates on my cell phone till I got a rescue.

A few of us on here are riding in the terry wild goose chase in October if you need another group ride to do. I think Kalidurga posted something about a Baltimore park group ride that's in June. I might be doing that with her and she & I probably ride about your speed.

7rider & Pfunk's group sounds a bit fast for me, but that can be a goal - in a couple of years, I'll be fast enough to hang with them.