Reading through the new commuter advice thread, there's a lot of talk about dressing in synthetic fabrics, jersey's shorts, etc. Even with racks and panniers, in a city or even the driveway of your own workplace, I think a lot of drivers refuse to believe that someone would commute to work. Thus a lot of the aggression comes from the "I'm in a hurry, you must not have anywhere to go" attitude. A huge portion of this is just typical arrogance that all of us have at some point, that what you are doing is more important than what anyone else is doing. A bike makes this worse, because you just lost a big symbol of American importance and independence: the car. I know, I know, it shouldn't be that way, but it is, and isn't likely to change anytime soon. Maybe if more cyclists biked to work in suits. Synthetic suits with sweat-wicking materials. I just think a lot of drivers assume that if you're on a bike, you are just exercising, screwing around, and that you couldn't possibly be using it to get somewhere. Maybe riding in suits would prove to more drivers that bikes are headed places, and not just through the city to the park or the country road while they have to go to work.