i agree with putting forth a good image, but there's only so much you can do.
around here, even though there's tons of roadies, nobody really likes them. motorists and pedestrians alike are always complaining about their total disregard for safety and traffic laws.
one problem is that they're pretty vocal when it comes to legislature for (or against) new bike lanes, and other bicycle related items, and they usually have money to back them up.
their problem is most of them are elitist bike snobs, who look down on every other form of biking, whether it's motorized or some kid on a bmx bike. they constantly harrass people just out for a (pedal) cruise near the beach or on the trails, and really rub the public the wrong way.
of course there's exceptions, i don't mean this as a sweeping generalization.
my personal feelings are, if they're gonna be jerks, then #%@& 'em. we have just as many rights to the road (more if we're paying money to license our bikes) than they do.
around here, the same guy riding his bike on weekends and moaning about us, is the same guy driving his land rover to work during the week moaning about everyone else on the road.