I have to say that allthough some of the racers that I've known have been arrogant, I have never in my 17 years of cycling ever been insulted. I have had a few "looks" back in the day when I was riding a Centurion LeMans in t-shirt. But no one has ever rode up and said something derrogatory.

As I mentioned before SoCal isn't the home of the overly friendly cyclist, you'll get a nod or a wave most of the time but I rarely got into conversations with people I ran accross on the road. Even in our Sat morning group ride were nice but a little stand-offish.

Here in Austin it's just the opposite. I've met the nicest people on the road and in my group ride. Our Tues/Sat/Sun group rides have a great mix of beg/fast rec/racers and everyone is really friendly. We have our little compititions on climbs and after words we all laugh about getting dropped etc.

I've raced cars for over 20 years now and I hear this kind of thing all the time from the "NASCAR" types saying that the road racers are stuck snobs. Well I've been to NASCAR races and I race road courses and I've met good and bad people at both. Generally the bad ones don't stay long because they don't make many friends. I especailly like beating those guys (and gals) in a car or a bike, to me that's best "revenge".