I highly recommend you find a group to ride with and, yes, if you can find a women's specific group even better. I started out on a tandem with hubby, so it was a good way to ease into group rides and I learned a lot. However, if I were starting out now, I'd ride with our club's women's ride on Sundays. It is perfect for beginning women who want to ride in a group and glean from others and ride at a pace that is more typical for beginning to intermediate women. I tried it once after I had my own bike and had already ridden with the regular club several times. By that time it was too easy for me, but I could see how I would have loved it as a beginner without a hubby on a tandem.

You can learn a lot from other riders and most cyclists are very friendly and helpful. (It's them serious racer types that you "sometimes" get the snub from!)