Advice for riding in tight groups

have you ridden much in a group of experienced riders working together since you started this thread? or have you been nobbing around with a bunch of random fixie skidders with 'follow me i liability and fuck you up wiv irrational moves' printed on their t-shirts?
:-)

quitting smoking has had the effect of increasing my weekly mileage from 50k to about 300k+ a week, some of which has been with other riders. Some fixed, some geared.