The key thing that will make cycling more pleasant and safer in this country is when people stop seeing cycling as something that just ‘proper cyclists’ do.
In the same way that critical mass is largely counterproductive because of the beardy wierdy types that it’s perceived to (and sometimes actually does) consist of – once non-cycling people stop thinking of cyclists as different to ‘normal people’ then it’ll be accepted – eg when they see their mates, families, colleagues cycling – people they know (and maybe like) and consider normal. Beardy wierdy types make it too easy to sideline cyclists as being ‘different from me’ or ‘not normal people’.
Making cycling more popular even if it’s fashion driven (eg the current fixie trend) is a good thing for those reasons – it gets previously non-cycling people on bikes. Sure some will stop when the next fashion comes along. Many however, won’t.
Similarly, with traffic being so bad in cities, more and more people are taking to bikes (British Olympic success hasn’t hurt this either IMO) and ironically, that’s what’s actually driving us towards a non-beardy wierdy critical mass.
EDIT – TJ – yes you do or you would never have that midlife crisis mane 😉