Last year I decided to retire from the event after 23 consecutive years (I even put up many of the road signs for numerous years and was one of the top fundraisers for several years), and then the thing got cancelled, which, by the way, was the right call. With potentially more than 7,000 riders, it's become too crazy for my liking.
My advice:
Arrive very early, especially if you are driving. Be ready to start early. You may find yourself in one of those cattle pen starting areas for 45 min. That happened to me twice in the last three years, which is a major reason I won't be back. I am not a cow and don't want to be treated like one. One way you can get around this is bring lights and start with the century group even if you are not doing the century. If it's too dark for your liking, you can always ride a mile and then pull over and wait for more light in the residential neighborhood the ride first passes through. The key is to get out of the start early.
Ride cautiously and defensively. Expect people to do the dumbest things you can imagine.
Blow off the first rest stop if you can. The second one isn't that much farther along on the course. Doing so will likely result in you leapfrogging over a large portion of the crowd.
Do not, under any circumstances, lay your bike on the ground at a rest stop. It very well could get stepped on by tried, inattentive people. Lean it somewhere stable and out of the way so it doesn't get knocked over.
If you decide to skip a rest stop, pass by the entrance with care. Over the year I saw a lot of crashes where people going into and coming out of rest stops got tangled up with people continuing on.
If you have a mechanical or stop for any reason, move yourself and your bike entirely off the road/shoulder or at least as far to the right as possible if there is a guard rail. I cannot tell you the number of people I have seen taking up shoulders to address flats.
The hot dogs at the finish will taste divine.
