I'll "chime back in" as I was the one to start the post. It was on 2nd Ave, downtown, which is a one-way, three lanes wide, with a painted bike lane on the left. The bike lane was wide open although yes, cars do park next to it at the far left. It was typical rush hour commute, busy but steady flow.

It was irritating, because, although traffic wasn't jammed, not going slower than a bicycle's speed, it was busy enough that it was hard to merge into the right lane to pass the cyclist taking up the whole left lane. So yes, it was irritating, even if he was allowed to take the lane. He and his partner were riding at a very leisurely pace.

I don't know if this adds to the discussion or fuels the fire.