I did the ride. I've ridden with the same small group of friends for the last few years. All in all, a nice ride, as it always is. The day started off cool and damp, but I was peeling off layers by the halfway point Astoria Park. I managed to avoid the temptation to go home and take a nap at that point (I live just a few blocks from there).

Mostly the ride was well-organized and well-marshalled. The marshals and the police did a great job, by and large (although I missed the mace incident described above). I did see one injury that looked bad. A man was on a stretcher. Looked liked he'd taken a bad fall. I think I saw some blood on his head. The EMS people were there, so my friends and I didn't stop -- he was in much better hands. Anyone see this? In Queens, after the park somewhere, very fit-looking black man in cycling attire? Hope he's OK.

Also saw a young woman with what looked like a large and painful abrasion on her knee. She was walking around at Staten Island, so I don't think there was any underlying injury, but still, that must have hurt.

Otherwise, all was well. There were the usual overly aggressive riders. And too many people on fixed-gear bicycles without brakes. I saw one plow into the back of a group of riders at one of the bottlenecks. Nobody was hurt, but the fixie guy was a jerk. It's simply irresponsible to ride brakeless in a big group.