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Drew Eckhardt provides meaningful insights, but your club is striving for a certain kind of ride that the other guys either don't understand or don't appreciate, so don't listen to them. The point of the kind of consistent effort ride that (I believe) you're participating in is to be fully aware of what the group is doing
as a unit. It's not about how easy YOU think the hills are, it's about how easy (or not) the GROUP finds them. The climbers may have to dial it back a little while the heavy folks have to pick it up. And even though consistent effort is the mantra, everyone realizes that at some point the effort required to make progress generally won't be enough to get you up a grade at all, so you just have to use your judgment, based on what you understand about the group. Usually, if a significant grade comes up, the leader may let the group break up (on steep, rough or technical descents as often as on steep climbs), but it will be explicit.
I used to participate in such disciplined rides, and I'd get yelled at for going too fast up hills. But it wasn't because I was stronger than the others: on the long flats, I'd be the one calling out "gapping." Right about the time it started to click - when I started to get it and really appreciate the consistent effort of a unit, not charge up hills then struggle to keep up on the flats - I had to move and couldn't participate anymore, so now all the group rides I do are anarchy.
