Originally Posted by
murphstahoe
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"
Simply riding outside of the bike lane in order to ride next to someone to chat is NOT a ticketable offense. If there was faster traffic present, it might be, depending on the circumstances. There are plenty of exceptions given in the CA law about why a cyclist is allowed to leave a bike lane; it's far from limited to passing another cyclist.