Originally Posted by
vane171
What is a typical club fee? And what do people get for it? Only the organized rides or some other benefits?
Probably, around $30/year. Our club has a website and other related stuff (used for scheduling) that isn't free. LAB also provides liability insurance for club officers that also isn't free. We also provide incentives (not free) to people to lead rides. We also organize club events (that aren't free).
Originally Posted by
vane171
No drop rides strike me as necessarily being an undemanding 'social rides' on some ability level, where the point is to stay together, where most participants can't expect to ride anywhere near their abilities most of the time.
In practice (in the real world) there is nothing that makes no-drop rides "necessarily" like what you describe. That is, it's one why to run things but not the only way.