What Tulip and BSG said.

Real riders are the ones who ride safely, both in traffic and in their own bodies. That means knowing what's coming up behind you and staying well hydrated.

I know plenty of people who have bar end mirrors on their $10,000+ bikes. Not that what you spend makes you a "real" rider either, but these are people who earned their chops, knew what they wanted and that they would be getting a good value for their money.

The only jerseys I wear are hi viz yellow.

I don't normally wear a hydration pack, but that's for comfort reasons, and if conditions and distance warrant, I absolutely will wear one. I've had heat exhaustion. What if you pass out when someone's behind you in a paceline? They go down, too. Does that seem fashionable to them?

There are rides when I know I might get a little disrespect, but that's because I'm SLOW, not because of what I wear.

And when one of your "buds" is stranded 40 miles from nowhere because they didn't bother to bring a chain tool or a couple of links of chain, I hope you let them know about it before you open up your seat pack to offer them yours.