The mass start is pretty slow, but I thought it was kind of fun to have so many cyclists around. I got to talk to some people and it was good camaraderie. After the cannon, it was probably about 15 minutes for me to get across the start line from where I was (back of the mid pack).

There were some at the start who were pretty careless about pulling out without looking or signaling, and a few who were riding (very slowly) in a big group across the road instead of single file without taking into consideration that there were people bunching up behind them... but overall, it seemed like people were pretty aware. One thing to watch out for was those raised reflectors along the lines in the road. I saw one guy take a very dramatic spill less than a mile after the start after hitting one of those.