Greig, as a newcomer to the club, my take on this, having attended the meeting, is that there were several objectives.
The first was to try to be inclusive and come up with rides that could include a wider mix of people than just the intermediate group - hence the idea of 'social rides'. We've already had at least a couple of runs this year where people from the thirty-milers and the intermediates have set out on the same run. This gives an opportunity to people wanting to move up from the thirty-milers to take on some slightly longer runs. Last Sunday's run, for example, was planned so that there was the possibility of people adding an extra loop of about 12 miles to the basic run if that was what they wanted to do.
The second objective was to bring in a bit more variety to the runs and to spread the load, of deciding the route and leading the group, around a bit. Tony has been doing a great job for the intermediates, but we should not just be dependent on Tony doing the organising, and it's great that Bill and Mary are willing to take on some of that work.
The third was to bring in a few longer runs and 'away' days for those who want to do these and can fit them in. It was recognised that this would not suit everybody, and it was expected that local runs would be organised for these days as well.
Tony has already posted in the other thread about the thirty milers what his ideas are and I don't see a problem with setting off as a single group and splitting at some point. It just needs some positive ideas for the thirty milers - either doing their own route or how they are going to handle the rides with the 'social' group.