I have noticed the trend of placing cyclists of all kinds in advertising. Maybe in the last 5 years; it's become a lot more noticeable.
I wouldn't say that cycling is the new golf in mainstream America. Maybe more people are using bikes for plain old recreation, but around here, cycling seems to be divided into 3 groups of riders: fitness riders/racers who tend to be upper middle class, college students and the urban "hip" who ride for transportation in the city, and the "invisible" cyclists who are often immigrants on beater bikes, or those who just can't afford any other type of transportation, including the subway.
We have a lot of high tech and medically oriented businesses here, as well as all of the universities. It seems that there are a large number cyclists in all of these professions. In the group I ride with, which consists mostly of people in their 40's to 80's, I'd say about a third are professors or work in a university, another third are doctors or nurses, and the rest are divided between engineers, artists, teachers, or other medical professionals.