one of the thing I think we forget is that we have different aims for getting on the bike.
An example: RUSA or my local rando club had a discussion on the e-mail list about posting elapsed time for brevet. The faster folks wanted to (i did 200k in under 5 hours! am I a He-man or what?") and the slower folk had more of the traditional "it's not a race, and the last person to finish in the allotted get as much credit as the first". in the end - the website shows finishing times.
another time I showed up at the woman's ride after I gone by the library and checked out some books. judging from the reaction, you would have thought a homeless bum was trying to join the peloton on a huffy! "OMG, those heavy books! (i Think had two James Thom paperbacks) and I've similar reaction with showing up on Saturday with the bike rigged for errands (" you ride for fun and do errands? that's unpossible!")
I would say more, but I may have start a flame war (Been meaning to comment some threads here, but I've been holding back lesy my good intentions be mistaken)