Any help and comments welcome!
Category D group rides start to get to easy for me. What would be the best way to transition to category C group rides (which are a little bit too tough for me right now, I get dropped after 20-30 mins)?
Hi @M.B
I would start with group rides on flatter courses. I would also suggest trying different groups some group leaders stay at the lower end of the C spectrum than others.
I was hoping for some training related advice, how could I be stronger/faster.
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LOL.
I would start by doing workouts like the FTP builder it is a very nice training program.
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Alternatively you could stick with the D rides but put yourself on a Mountain bike and see how it goes… while you work on your training
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There’s a lot to be said for carrying on as you have been doing, and giving it time. Make sure your recovery is adequate: sleep well and don’t do the hard rides when you’re fatigued. In the D rides you can also spend some time trying to help riders falling off the back. It’s great practice attempting to keep a rider on your wheel, and will provide a better workout. Faster gains are not the best way to build fitness, if you have the time. (Sorry for not really answering the question.)
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Keep doing C rides and try to hang on a minute or two longer each time. If you ride multiple days a week, do this about a third of the time. Once you get dropped, don’t log out but continue the ride at your Z2/Z3 effort. Last year, this helped me eventually hang in onto C paced rides for the full duration. This isn’t scientific but I found that pushing myself a little bit on regular basis in combination with the lonely, frustration of hobbling through the rest of the course alone gave me both the strength and motivation to progress at a reasonable and satisfying rate.
I had to come off the bike for six months, so I’ll be back at this again soon myself. Good luck, you can do it!
P.S. There’s a range of wkg for C rides, start with low end ones. I also found it was helpful to do the same C group rides each week so that pace was more consistent.
Edit:
P P.S. If decide to try this, you may also want to mentally prepare yourself to be swept and/or decline to be swept. I can’t tell you how often I found myself in the desert instructing kind souls to go on and leave me behind for dead. 
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Try the C rides and see how you go, and let yourself have recovery days, you need that to build up.
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Make sure you’re working on getting a high cadence. If you’re not averaging around 90rpm or so, try getting up to that number. Faster cadence means you’re relying more on lower power/higher endurance muscle fibers. The lower you drop your cadence, the faster you’ll tire out
Hit the C rides, and get your cadence to 90+. Then set yourself goals for how long you’ll hang each time.
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