streetstomper

Don't know where to put this since they closed the COVID subforum.

Does anyone know of any mass start rides (not races) already announced for this year? Wondering if rides like the Tour de l'île de Montréal or the Five Boro Bike Tour will be held in 2021. Pretty sure the former won't be happening this year as Canada reopening its border by June is almost impossible. Bike New York says they're trying to get their event together for the fall, but with the variant surges and a likely summer surge even with vaccines, I can't imagine the city allowing tens of thousands of riders packed together like sardines at the start line. Especially with many riders normally coming from across the country and even from other countries. There's no news about the Moonlight Ramble yet. Does RAGBRAI have a mass start?

Iride01 

So are we to assume you aren't interested in small mass start things of 500 or so?

tomato coupe

Were there any events in the U.S. or Canada with tens of thousands of riders at the start line, even before COVID?

downhillmaster

It seems like you have no desire to enter such a ride so why ask?

Elvo

https://www.ironman.com/im703-st-george

alcjphil

One year when I did the Tour de L'ile de Montreal I started at the very front and rode the 70 km at a very fast pace. When I finished, there was still a huge lineup of several thousand people who hadn't yet crossed the start line

msu2001la

Ironman is doing mass-start races in the US this year. I think it likely comes down to individual states and where they are at with restrictions.

RAGBRI is happening this summer (as of now), but this is not a "mass start" event. The routes are open all day and cyclists can start/finish whenever they want.

msu2001la

Probably not strictly cycling events, but there are lots of running races and triathlons that run "wave starts" with tens of thousands of participants.

msu2001la

Dirty Kanza (now called Garmin Unbound Gravel) is on for June. This event has had around 4000 participants in the past. I don't think all 4k start at the exact same time, but probably in waves and broken up by event distance.

indyfabz

Did the Five Boroughs Ride in NYC once. Once. Never again. Although I've heard that it can be fun if you are at/near the very front. We had to wait for three ferries in order to get from Staten Island to the start. At one point nearing Central Park we skateboarded for about 5 blocks. I was with a friend and his teenage daughter. Dad got separated from us. We thought he was behind so we stopped to look for him. Thought he would be easy to spot in his purple jacket until we realized that it seemed every 5th person was wearing a purple jacket. At the Astoria rest stop daughter went to use the restroom. Came back an hour later. But out of sheer luck we ran into dad on the FDR Parkway. What were the odds? When we got back to Staten Island we rode straight to the car, loaded up quickly and drove off in relief.

UniChris

Yep... my return to cycling just missed being ready to contemplate it one year, and I spent a year thinking I wanted to do it, but the more I learned about it the more I didn't.

Having other riders spread out over a common route, striking up conversations with those you find yourself matching pace with, maybe even seeing some of the same people day after day during a longer event, that sounds like fun.

Bike traffic jams don't.

Many things are good in moderation, but hardly anything works to excess.

alcjphil

Sounds to me as if your would enjoy Velo Quebec's Grand Tour. Never appealed to me, but I have a couple dozen friends who do it almost every year and love it

indyfabz

Before I did it, my good friend, who was then head of Philadelphia's bike advocacy organization, told me I would hate it. She said something like "You think it's going to be this great bike be-in, but there are people weaving all over the place and cutting in front of you. There are people who but bikes for the first time just to do the ride." She was right.

streetstomper

Five Boro Bike Tour - 32,000 riders

Tour of Montreal - 30,000+ riders

streetstomper

Why do people need to be presumptuous and snarky? Maybe I asked because I want to know whether to expect to be able to do any this year.

Iride01 

Don't some of your friends get a little snarky to lighten the conversation when you are sitting around pondering life and other things?

This really isn't any different. Take it with humor as it was likely intended. Whether bad humor or not.

tomato coupe

Wow. Big rides.

downhillmaster

Yeah?...
After you posted ‘I can’t imagine the city allowing tens of thousands of riders packed together like sardines?’

cjenrick

2021 STP race canceled .

anti-socials won't miss a thing.

indyfabz

I did it in 2008. Many of the roads had horrible surfaces. You know they are bad when you’re happy to ride a wet, unpaved rail-trail. Other than that, and the fact that it rained every day except one, it was a nice event. The food was very good. The first night we had duck.

BillyD

See, where else would you find so much adventure except in New York?

BillyD

Yeah I hear what you’re saying. Totally agree, these forums need to be more light-hearted and less serious all the time. Problem is that oftentimes some individuals can’t take the same type of humor they like to hand out without starting a fight.

streetstomper

It's a statement of fact. NYC was the epicenter of the pandemic a year ago. There have been over 30,000 deaths in the city alone and the number of cases is rising again right now and likely to keep doing so after people get cabin fever and go out this summer. It's a public health crisis. The 5 Boro start line is incredibly crowded. Canada obviously still thinks it's a threat since they refuse to let Americans across the border for nonessential travel. Do you dispute any of that? Something tells me you're not in NYC, so you don't know the conditions there. Maybe stop projecting your own insatiable need to be snarky on everyone else. If you can't just answer a simple question plainly, maybe don't write anything at all.

streetstomper

No, that was not humor. That was accusation.

indyfabz

I New York.