I struggled a bit I guess.. I have two friends who are quite flakey, and some people from work who have not been able to ride for a long time due to injury. I got hooked up with a local-ish group via the mrs who works with someone in it. i’m not sure. I enjoy their company, and the challenge, but not always what and where they ride so much.
Luckily for me one of my flakey mates and I have an old mutual friend who was a roadie for the last few years. Including club ride etc. He got knocked off about 6 weeks ago and its put him off for good. So much so he bought a mountain bike and has his road stuff up for sale. He saw me sharing strava rides on fb and our pics and knew we were riding sometimes so asked when we were out next. That was a week ago. he joined us for the first time Sunday.. “best fun i’ve had on a bike for 3 years” he said. He’s just got to square things with his other half so he’s allowed out with me/us more.
So, if you can tap up friends-of-friends, people you know, or via strava/facebook local groups, and the other suggestions here something will come together.
Also, I understand being a lady it could be hard to trust men. So a mixed group might be best, even better – start your own thing. I was thinking of starting a monthly “casual ride” thing to network a bit til the recent change of events. Pick a place, say you’ll be there and what time, rought idea of whats on the table and see what happens. I play guitar on weds nights with a couple local guys and found each other randomly througha post on a local commmunity forum – one of the guys turned up to our first session unannounced because he’d heard it was happening.. so you never know!