The most likely scenario for getting a ticket for riding outside a bike lane in Sausalito is riding 2-3 abreast such that the leftmost cyclist is not in the bike lane. You can leave the bike lane to pass, not so that you can ride next to your friend for 3 miles discussing the finer points of your new Heart Rate Monitor based training program. Most stories posted to lists about "I got this BS ticket" - I read the story and think "that really doesn't sound like BS to me"
A lot of this is the boom in runners transitioning to triathlon. So you get people new to cycling but fit enough to ride at very high tempo, but used to running on isolated trails instead of cycling on congested streets. Just my opinion, but I have a lot of data points - I can't really see any reason to be riding through Sausalito down in a set of aerobars but it happens....