Originally Posted by WhyFi

I think that one of the issues with the MAJOR is that the rides of differing lengths all start from the same spot, so you'd have both very serious cyclists, like @RPK79 and I, and the 20-mile putterers all jumbled up. Rather than get mixed up in that, we've always left a little early (yet we've never been passed by a group of thunder thighs, so go figure).

The Tour de Tonka, however, had the very serious cyclists start the 100-mile course at a different time and location than the shorter courses. The number of riders at the TdT is was also considerably higher (there were ~800 riders signed up for the 100-mile ride) and there seemed to be a number of clubs/teams that participated.