For the last few years, the GCC has had two faster ride groups, the A Riders and the Gliders. The A Riders have been around for the entire decade, at one time fielding rides as large as sixty riders. But time has taken its toll; people have graduated, gotten new jobs in other towns, gotten married, had kids, grown older. The Gliders are a newer group that got started mid-decade as a medium speed group. But, inevitably, as they rode regularly they grew stronger. Last year, if you wanted to turn in the fastest average speed for a ride, you'd look first for a Gliders ride.
The A Riders come from a racing background. In a typical A Ride, there would be sprints for town limit signs, and frequent use of advanced formations such as rotating pace lines. These rides were frequented by guest riders from Team Florida and, in the winter, racers from up North doing preseason training in Florida. A number of the "guests" were, and continue to be, racing types from Gainesville who don't want to join a "touring" club.
The Gliders grew up from a touring tradition. They use less aggressive formations, don't sprint for signs, and might actually wait for you if you fall off the back.
And now the few remaining A Riders are regularly joining Glider rides. For the most part, this is working out fine. But there are some things to watch out for. The A Riders who are currently in race training can definitely put a hurting on most Gliders if they decide to push the pace. And more mundanely, the two groups have developed different methods of signaling how to move off the front of a pace line.
When an A Rider decides to move off the front, he will flip his fingers if they are on the hoods, flap his elbows, and/or shrug his shoulders to signal that he is getting off. A Glider will slap her thigh and point on the side that she is moving off to. This has precipitated some "culture clash" within the peleton; we'll keep watch and report if a common method evolves.