Veronica, you are absolutely right- they are volunteers, and I really do appreciate people who wake up at 3 am, come out to help put the ride together. At the same time I been to couple triathlons, which are much harder to organize, at the same price for the event, the events were better organized for three times as much people. If you asked me, I would rather pay more knowing that these people would be rewarded for their job, but there would be more of them to help. Another thing that I didnt mention is that there was bus service that took riders from Manhattan to the ride and back (3hours ride) , there were supposed to be 3 buses going back to manhattan at 2, 4,6pm. Well 6pm bus was cancelled for unknown reason, and riders who finished after 4 and were supposed to be on a bus at 6 were left without a ride home. All the hotes around were booked...