It was pitch black when I rode to the start at Penn Station. Coming back over the Queensborobridge, finally underway, the sun was just coming up.
Somewhere beyond those smoke stacks lies my neighborhood in Astoria.
I didn't take any pictures through Queens for the light was dim and I also went way off course and had a fine time exploring unfamiliar streets, smiling at the solitary, early morning pedestrians. Eventually I found the course and later got on a great paceline that I rode for miles.
I hope this gives some sense of what It's like riding sheltered in a line. I didn't look through the view finder to take any of the pictures taken on the bicycle.