You’re right, a lot of the folk on my organised rides, are surprised that the rides aren’t all ‘smashy smashy, racey racey, head down, bum up’ clubby type rides. I’ve always tried to run them as anything but that, and if anyone wants to go and do a more racey ride, I can give them the details of a miriad of local clubs they can go and have a look at. My ‘brief’ has always been to get people out on their bikes, and if a ‘grass roots’ rider then goes on and does more sporty riding, that’s a bonus. It’s unfortunate that the ( minority) more ‘faux pro’ element like to shout louder than the majority of us ( metaphorically speaking ) using social meeja and the like, and people get the wrong idea sometimes. When you add in local political issues ( basically idiots trying to give it the big I am ) and losing sight of the goal, it makes it even more confusing. CTC aren’t immune to it, but it tends not to cause most people to get the wrong end of the stick