At the local non-drop ride that I ride on, two of the organizers are triathletes. They also ride in a Sunday ride which is faster. So I assume it's not a big deal around here.

They don't have aerobars- not sure if they use different bikes for the triathlons or what.

If the local cyclists are having problems with devastating crashes without triathletes involved, are you sure that's really the group you WANT to ride with? Maybe you should be banning them, instead of the other way around.