I think you watched one too many fausto coppi videos.

There are currently 4 groups/types of cyclists (within the road cycling... proper I mean, not office commuters on fixies)

The largest number are the elitist cyclists. Thats pretty much 40% of people on this forum. These are people with disposable income, and know what a soy-chai latte is. You are correct, doctors, lawyers, teachers, office workers of all sorts, and even some good blue collar jobs. Educated, and wouldn't be found with the riff-raff. These are the people who are "experts" on cycling, and everything about pro cycling too. The armchair racers. These are people who do anywhere from 1 or 2 hours every morning and a longer ride on Saturdays. These are the cyclists in the big local bike shop club, and the club itself has the ego-power hungry guys who gossip like little girls about stuff other seniors in the club are doing or saying (usually on the club committee). Some of these even race in some lower cat races, and because of this, it cements their "expertise" on cycling. Bikes usually comprise of all kinds of high end Italian names brands, super record groupos, shimano electric of course, and the highest crap sram offers. There is no shortage of Colnago, pinarellos, BMCs and Looks. Mounted to the handle bar are garmin GPS systems so the gossip can get spicy with all the virtual upload crap. People in this category will often own high end digital SLRs cameras with all the goodies, accessories and lenses. They get the most expensive electronic toys money can buy, and have ego pissing contests on forums to show off their whit, English grammar and prove someone wrong. This group has never raced higher than cat 3, nor done REAL races. They have the most advanced and fanciest training nutritional energy bars and Goos for one and a half hour rides. They consider themselves societies elite, model citizens.

The second group are the nice old timers who have been riding for sometime. They may make up maybe 10% of the forum. These are guys who maybe or maybe not raced, but they come from real cycling. They have done more miles than the first group will ever do in a lifetime. Their knowledge of cycling also actually expands to track cycling too. Most of these guys can actually build a wheel, and usually true their own wheels because they have done it for so long. The second group has guys who rode many miles on steel frames, then alloys, then aluminum, titanium, and now maybe carbon. This group does what it has to not to be snubbed by the first group. They keep a somewhat good bike, whatever money they can spare, but they are not out buying the latest greatest, that not even pros have. Some of these old timers will make a lot of people in the first group look stupid out on the road. They often ride alone, or in a small group of other old timers. They have far more experience than the first group, and have a far more rational image of what cycling is.

The third group is the younger generation that actually races. Cat 2 and maybe even 1s. They seldom visit forums and maybe make up 10%, they come in to check on equipment reviews here and there. They train seriously everyday, and although they have great equipment, they have it because they are looking for every genuine last edge they can get to win a real race. This group has riders who do Tour of California and so on, and are possible US team, hopefuls. They take a bunch of vitamin and protein supplements, and are always on the verge of considering harder "stuff," but they never follow through with it and thats exactly why they are not professionals and never will be. This group may also contain guys who dont race such as young mechanics in bike shops who ride pretty hard but may not necessarily race.

The last group needs no introduction. These are the 99ers. about 40% of the forum. This group knows nothing of cycling, but with all the fancy gear they would swear they know everything because they have listened to bob, phill and paul commenting on the Tour de france in the last 4 or 5 years. These are the people who cause crashes in groups, lock up back wheels near traffic lights, go downhill like snails, cant ride in pace-lines, accelerate as hard as they can when they come to the front, have loads of yellow on their bike and kit, most probably ride crappy sram and have either a cervelo or trek frames, with those ugly lance armstong mavic wheels. This group actually thinks they will lose weight riding a handful of mile a day, and they dont ride daily by the way. They hardly ride at all in winter in fact. They think cycling is some new fitness trend and its also a social card to play on Monday morning at work by the water cooler. They often enjoy talking about how "thin" the tires are at BBQs in front of their girlfriends, and the girlfriends often think their boyfriends are so cool for picking up cycling. There are also a large number of new female cyclists in this group. They are completely convinced they will lose weight through cycling. Some of them got into it because of someone at the gym, or friends, or boyfriend. After months they realize that cycling does **** for loosing weight, but now they are into it, actually enjoy it anyway, but most of all it makes them feel sexy with the spandex and colorful gear and the expensive cute road bike, plus it makes them cooler than other single coworkers.
So we have:
The elitists (majority)
The Old Timers and
The real young racers/ young hard riders.
The 99ers.

Now of course, this is all a joke, im making all of this up and serves no truth in any way shape or form, it is simply for entertainment purposes.