I went on an early RoS and determined it was pretty useless. We listened to the ride leader listing off all the cyclists who have been killed by motorists in the last zillion years, then we rode around a couple of neighborhoods. Visibility was essentially zero. Lately they seem more useful - they start on campus and ride about 5 miles down the main drag to the state capitol where there is a speaker. The group has police escort and includes a sign trailer. I was going to go this year, but ... it rained. Lots of that this year.
