Thanks for those comments,
Bulette . If anyone is concerned about being on the road during the "drunk fest", it's pretty easy to avoid that by starting earlier. (Our team has a joke that you can tell if you're riding with the correct wave by looking at the shoes other people are wearing.
)
My first couple of RAGBRAIs were with a more serious team that skewed older. We generally woke up 5-5:30 and were on the road by 6:30-7. Some days, we'd reach the overnight town by 1pm, which helped to avoid much of the afternoon heat. (Not to mention, food and toilet paper shortages.)