Ok, so I posted this as a reply to somebody else but felt I needed my own response to this recent occurrence.

2 weeks ago I went on our local regular open group ride that is put together by our LBS. I've been riding a relatively short time but I put a lot of work into it and have been improving fairly quickly in the past few weeks. (me and my friend have a set goal to get our miles down to or below 3 minutes and we want to do a century by the end of summer) I'm a typical fred, I have a decent bike IMO 09 Orca all dura-ace but I'm not clipless...yet. I'm waiting for the right shoe to go on sale on Bonktown...I know its cheap but the deals are too good to pass up. annnyways. In this group ride EVERYBODY rides the first mile together, men, women, children, freds, elitest...doesn't matter...after this first mile your regulars usually zoom off in a sprint to show off and take the lead. the first couple of times I simply rode to finish until I felt comfortable enough to try and keep up one day....I was dropped because I was on my own and had nobody to draft off. 3 weeks ago I went with my friend but i was fairly hung over and managed to keep up for a bit and we eventually got dropped because I was ready to spew chunks....I rode a 40 mile loop the following friday and rested until our tuesday group ride, where I was determined to keep up with the hammerheads of the group.

After the first mile we all took off, I was feeling really solid for some reason so I decided to kick it up and sprint up with the faster guys, and it wasn't seeming that hard. I was alone on this day so I decided to pull with some of the guys that usually get dropped with me. Problem was I was pulling to fast so I dropped them, moving on to the next group I got behind them and started drafting with them which didn't seem to be a problem. we all swapped positions and took the lead. They tired out pretty quickly so I dropped them as well....feeling really strong I came up on the 2 lead guys who were pulling off of each other. I got behind this dude completely decked out in his bibb, arm thingys blah blah "im trying to hard to look like a pro at this group ride look" on his TT cervello. so I'm on these guys and I noticed 2 others from the previous group pumped it out to keep up with me...so they bite on as well.
I hear the guy on the cervello shout out to his friend "we got some guy back here blah blah blah" I didn't think it was an issue..just assumed he was giving him a heads up so he knew there were others behind him. OUT OF FREAKING NOWHERE!!! DUDE ON THE CERVELLO LOCKS BRAKES IN FRONT OF ME!!! I swerve left and brake to avoid him and luckily nobody behind me ran into me either...collision averted. Nothing said, no "my bad" or debris in the road...total douch3bag move!

My question is...did I really do something that wrong to deserve that? It's a group ride I've been attending for awhile now. Theres a few of the riders who are a tight group but they seem relatively nice...they are also friends with said guy on the Cervello...when we made it to the turn about on the top of the hill I had a few choice words and exclaimed how I would make sure my front tire would be spoke deep in his rectum if he ever pulled that stunt again. He didn't respond, just smirked at his friend and rode off...

I also ended up finishing the ride ahead of them, and I'm pretty positive these guys are just pissed they aren't the top dogs of our slow group. I plan on going out this coming tuesday and doing the same, but I'd definitely would like to know if there was or is some form of etiquette to drafting on somebody without them getting pissed. Im totally open to let people draft off of me. I love the sport and enjoy other riders and their rides...It's like a car show to me every time I go to an event.

sorry this is written so poorly...I am severely hung over today from a going away bash for a good friend. all responses welcome...

Oh let me post the technicals so i dont have to respond.
the route is 22 miles, I average 20mph on it on a fast day and 18.5 on an average day. that day was super fast..theres a long stretch we were pulling 23-24 most of the way until dillhole locked up on me.