Ah yes, the one lone 20MPH cyclist... again that elite top 5%... meanwhile, everyone else is moving at 12MPH.

As for the other examples... especially the argument of the military that can fill a room in seconds... Sure and if all the cars on the freeway at rush hour drove the exact same speed and measured distance, they could go a lot faster and even squeeze more vehicles on the road. It has actually been proven with experiments here. But the reality is that motorists (like cyclists) move at different speeds, and keep different following distances, and even move laterally.

Even with a 4 lane road divided into 8 lanes, given enough cyclists, the road will slow down to a median level... and sure maybe that one 25MPH cyclist will sneak through... just like that one motorist can split lanes and get through a crowded freeway. But otherwise you are not going to see a downtown area, even flat, filled with 25MPH cyclists... Especially if everyone is obeying traffic signals... which they still would have to do to allow all the cyclists to flow in all directions.

BTW CM was probably a bad example... you were right in that they are not intentionally trying to "flow."

However, in large organized rides, where the group is not trying to stay together, you still get "traffic" problems.