Originally Posted by unterhausen

the eastern PA RBA started a 200k in the evening, so the finish for most people was after sunrise in the morning. It was fun. I was a bit annoyed about it at the time, because I certainly don't need any practice at riding all night. I think there aren't as many 24 hour convenience stores as there were then. Only problem was that we went through a college town the Saturday night before fall classes started, and the students had started drinking hours before I got there.

Starting a 400k before sunrise means you have the opportunity to see a second sunrise on the same ride. I think the common 4am start works fairly well because you don't miss any daylight hours and it's better to ride early in the morning than late at night in most locales because there is more traffic late at night.