Thank you Ken!
So then I get up in the dark, Bill comes over and we load the bikes, hit the freeway, scavenge a parking place, and ride to where the other 16,998 bikers are gathered.
The ride is supposed to start at 6am but the crowds are so huge that once you reach the start you’ve been walking for several blocks and you’ll walk a bit more until the people in front of you have spread out.