[Mr. Blonde]

Assuming you live in Texas, here is where bikes have a right to ride:

Sec. 551.103. OPERATION ON ROADWAY. (a) Except as provided by Subsection (b), a person operating a bicycle on a roadway who is moving slower than the other traffic on the roadway shall ride as near as practicable to the right curb or edge of the roadway.

They do not have a right to be in the middle of a traffic lane, which is how I'm reading what the police told you. Subsection b says they can ride on the left edge of a one way with two or more marked lanes.

They do only have to have a rear reflector (should have checked beforehand, but I figured Texas and Oklahoma laws would be very nearly identical, this is an area where they differ), but that reflector must be visible to high beams from 300 ft back. Or they can have a red light that must be visible from 500 ft.

[SUSSA]

How often do you ride with your high beams on a major dr with lots of traffic? Plus there is no inspection to see if the reflectors are that good.

As near as practicable is very subjective.

They ride two and three to a lane and the cops do nothing here.