Just to re-iterate in a slightly different way, you don't have to be on someone's wheel to get some benefit from being in a group. Even 10 feet behind a cluster of other riders will have you pedaling along with less power required.
Certainly you'll finish sooner if you stay with a group than if you stay solo. Unless you picked the slowest group there! That said, I tagged on to a paceline at one ride that was too fast for me and they wore me out. The last 15 miles solo after they rode me off the back was torture! <grin>
Key words above are "group" and "paceline". While a paceline is a group, a group is not necessarily a paceline.
Last edited by Iride01; 07-10-22 at 12:59 PM.