In CA, bicycles are considered vehicles and have just as much right to the ENTIRE lane as cars do.
That said, I ride as far to the right as possible, and always wear really bright clothes. As for the "spandex", the jerseys are usually a wicking fabric that dries quickly and they have pockets in the back for carrying jacket, food, etc, the shorts stay in one place and are padded. Doing a couple of hours in the saddle with the wrong shorts is not pleasant.
I've started riding again, been doing bits os Sepulveda but find it pretty terrifying during evening commute. I'm moving to SM and I'll have a lot quicker access to decent streets and PCH to ride.
There is a limit to how far right one can ride. If there are parked cars I leave enough room so that if someone decides to open their door I don't go boom. Also there tends to be a lot of crap (broken glass, metal, etc) in the gutters so you need to stay clear of that as well.
I used to do Tu/Th at the bowl back in the early 90s. I'm too old for that crap these days, and if I go down like I did then it'll take too long to heal
