At the moment, with the common cause of keeping ourselves safe, and a common love for a vision of a future with a less car-centric city, we're all united under the umbrella of 'cyclists'. And yet, this very moniker is an indication of how far we have to go. Cyclists are unusual enough and different enough that people identify themselves as such even when we're not on our bikes. Few people identify themselves by how they commute otherwise, though. I haven't met people who identify themselves enthusiastically as "drivers" or "transit users" to the same degree as I might identify myself as a cyclist.
So, what happens if we reach our utopia and we no longer need to identify as cyclists (though some of us still will, no doubt) to seek out like-minded people? What are you going to be when you're not a cyclist? What else are you?
Me? I'm an unschooling parent of a boy who will be 11 tomorrow. For the moment that drives much of my life (probably to a great extent my cycling is because of that - want to leave him as good a planet as I can and have the health benefits of cycling so I can stick around as long as I can). I'm pretty far to the left politically - too far left to really feel comfortable in much of the US which is why my family and I immigrated here in early 2004. I consult in the pharmaceutical industry - regulatory compliance and that alternately allows me to work from home for months on end but then sometimes requires that I travel all over.
What else? I'm something of a techie which I use for work but also at home as well and spend a fair bit of time on the net. The latter is particularly fun since one of my great joys in life is facilitating connections - introducing people to new ideas, new people, etc and the net really makes that easy.
Also? I can be pretty impulsive at times and have been known to get a crazy idea and just take off and do it. That's how we ended up living in Canada four years ago, and before that it's how we ended up spending two years living in a yurt in the woods with no electricity or running water for two years.
And what about you folks? What are you all going to be when you're no longer cyclists?
