I thought the article pretty clearly stated that they WERE following traffic laws and not disrupting traffic. There were lanes open for the cars to go around them.
My bike club will ALWAYS take the entire lane, if there are 2 or more. We often get harrassed by motorists that do not know or understand a cyclists rights on the road. There've been a few close calls, but fortunately no collisions, yet.
What they were doing on the bicycles is irrelevant to thier right to the road.
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Sometimes you just let the rabbits run, but sometimes you gotta let the dogs run.