Does the hammerfest all take place on an interstate? At night?
It's a year round ride, so it's at night for several months. Starts at 6pm. It's one of those surging race-type rides. Attracts mostly cat 3 and 4 types, which the occasional cat 1 or 2 who is also on the ride. It's on city streets, some of the boulevards are going to have cars going at least 45mph. That's not so bad if we have multiple lanes and medians. I get more worried on the single lane roads. And we are a big group, everyone with lights, so we are all visible.
We have a slow rollout. 36 miles. Even with the slow rollout, we averaged over 22mph yesterday, and that includes lots of lights and stop signs.
I tell you, if you are comfortable on a race-type group ride in the dark, it makes your first crit in the daytime a relative cinch. This is the ride that allowed me to get 2nd place in my first crit.